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Foster left employment at one of the largest manufacturing houses in
Baltimore to become the business manager for "Professor Alphonse Loisette" (later identified as Marcus Dwight Larrowe), a lecturer and promoter of systems and methods to develop and improve memory skills. Foster resigned in April
486:
According to this source: Loisette/Larrowe and Pelman/Pöhlmann probably knew each other in London, and one plagiarized the other. Later experts on early psychology believed that
Loisette was a plagiarist. Foster's role in the dissemination is not clear. One March 1906 newspaper advertisement
130:, first published in 1897, has been called his great achievement. It provided descriptions and laws of more than 100 indoor games and was revised frequently during his lifetime, then by others after his death. One of his last editions was included in the 1939 New York World's Fair
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1888, wishing not to be associated with
Loisette's unethical personal and business practices and accusing him of being a "humbug and a fraud". Foster subsequently joined William Joseph Ennever and others in a similar business venture, the
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Foster's
Complete Hoyle: An Encyclopedia of All the Indoor Games Played at the Present Day With Suggestions for Good Play, a Full Code of Laws. Illustrative Hands. And a Brief Statement of the Doctrine of Chance as Applied to
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Although he also wrote fiction and contributed short stories to magazines, his most prolific work was on the subject of card, dice and table games being author of over 50 such books covering every imaginable card game:
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Francis (2001), p. 399, notes that while Foster is generally credited with first writing about the rule in 1890, "it is said to have been discovered independently by E.M.F. Benecke of Oxford at about the same
428:
of 1890 and is a means for opener's partner to infer how many cards held by declarer are higher in rank than the card led; likewise, declarer can infer the same information about his right-hand-opponent's
107:. He emigrated to the United States (probably in 1872) where he engaged in surveying and gold prospecting and then in manufacturing before turning to the memory training and writing businesses in 1893.
83:, was a memory training promoter and the prolific writer of more than 50 nonfiction books. He wrote primarily on the rules of play and methods for successful play of card, dice, and board games.
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Foster's Modern Bridge
Tactics: A Complete Exposition of the Lates Theories of Four-card Suit Bids, Approaching Bids, and Suit Distribution, Together with an Entirely New Theory of the No-trumper
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on May 31, 1853, the son of
Alexander Frederick and Mary E. Macbrair, and "connected with some of the best families in Great Britain". He was educated as an
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Having written numerous whist and bridge books by 1935, he was considered "the dean of living bridge authorities". At that time he directed
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Foster was a member of several card, athletic, and golf clubs—including
Knickerbockers Whist and the Cavendish Club—and a member of the
667:. G.S. Fellows. New York: G.S. Fellows & Co. 1888. "Penetralia", pp. 217–20; purportedly including Foster's letter of resignation.
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wrote 20 years after his death that Foster "had been one of the great figures in whist and bridge" for 60 years.
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Foster's Pirate Bridge: The Latest
Development of Auction Bridge with the Full Code of the Official Laws
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Self-playing Cards for Whist, Self-playing Cards for Bridge, and an improved design for Whist
Markers.
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149:, where he lectured and taught bridge in sixty-five towns." He crossed the Atlantic 97 times in all.
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The Secret of
Certainty in Recollection, plainly stated, simply taught: The Pelman–Foster System
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obituary, "Foster came to this country immediately after the Chicago fire of 1872." But the
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545:. Text by subscription only; minimal OCR text available as abstract. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
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Foster's Complete Hoyle: An Encyclopedia of All the Indoor Games Played at the Present Day
517:. Volume IV, 1929–1930. Los Angeles: Golden Syndicate Publishing Company. 1930. p. 369.
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226:, and other bridge variations, and many more. Foster also wrote on other games such as
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66:, published by Frederick A. Stokes Company, London and New York, 1897 (first edition)
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747:. Ennever/Enever family history & ancestry (ennever.com). Retrieved 2014-07-07.
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145:). At some time he lived four years in Germany; at another time, "three years in
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in 1895. He filled that position to 1919 when he undertook the same role for the
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This article is about the card game disseminator. For the Irish historian, see
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567:"Robert F. Foster: International Bridge Expert Had Written a 'Complete Hoyle
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The Foster Echo, an unblocking play against notrump intended to show count.
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718:. Edited by Ely Culbertson. New York: The Bridge World, 1935; pp. 162–63.
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Foster married Mary E. Johnson in 1891 and became card editor for the
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at rummy-games.com (now in the public domain); 2007 print edition,
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Foster's Whist Manual: A Complete System of Instruction in the Game
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745:"The Pelman School of Memory, The Pelman Institute and Pelmanism"
177:, a book of five correspondence lessons dating from around 1905.
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265:; expanded 3rd ed. "with American leads", 1894, Brentano's,
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Other clubs included: Savage, National Liberal (London),
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identified R.F. Foster as "the author" of the system.
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Cooncan (Conquián): A Game of Cards also Called "Rum"
639:"St. George Event Recalls A Towering Figure in Game"
335:Foster, Robert Frederick: Foster's Practical Poker
57:Title Page (with original owner's dated signature)
341:Foster's Complete Hoyle: An Encyclopedia of Games
771:, London: Frederick A. Stokes, 1890, p. 36 note.
759:. New York : Frederick A. Stokes company,
347:Foster, Robert Frederick: Pocket Laws of Poker
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537:"Card Authority Dies; Author of 50 Books".
432:The first set of laws for contract bridge.
185:Foster also wrote a detective novel titled
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525:(books.google.com). Retrieved 2014-07-07.
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803:Works by R. F. (Robert Frederick) Foster
675:(openlibrary.org). Retrieved 2014-07-07.
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849:British emigrants to the United States
515:Who's Who Among North American Authors
75:(May 31, 1853 – December 25, 1945) of
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141:at the St. George Club in Brooklyn (
716:The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge
637:Truscott, Alan (January 21, 1965).
601:The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge
598:; Francis, Dorthy A., eds. (2001).
303:– after the 1740s–50s treatises by
273:, facsimile 2005, Cosimo Classics,
688:Oakes, Charles Henry, ed. (1907).
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406:Contributions to whist and bridge
355:(NY: Frederick A. Stokes, 1913),
794:Works by Robert Frederick Foster
171:Pelman School of Memory Training
156:. He died December 25, 1945, in
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606:American Contract Bridge League
323:Foster, Robert Frederick: Poker
410:Foster invented or developed:
310:Foster's Common Sense in Whist
249:(New York: Brentano's, 1890),
134:, to be opened in 5000 years.
120:. He was also a columnist for
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665:"Loisette" Exposed {...}
604:(6th ed.). Memphis, TN:
154:Society of American Magicians
160:, survived by one daughter.
575:. December 27, 1945; p. 18.
541:. December 26, 1945; p. 4.
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690:"Foster, Robert Frederick"
26:
728:"R.F. Foster – A Profile"
471:Los Angeles Athletic Club
132:Westinghouse Time Capsule
95:R. F. Foster was born in
698:. Vol. 59. London:
543:Page 4 at newspapers.com
475:Wheatley Hills Golf Club
29:R. F. Foster (historian)
854:Contract bridge writers
813:Robert Frederick Foster
730:. CardsAndDominoes.com.
477:, Deauville Beach Club.
448:According to his short
73:Robert Frederick Foster
64:Foster's Complete Hoyle
859:Card game book writers
365:full-text reproduction
158:Eastham, Massachusetts
769:Foster's Whist Manual
426:Foster's Whist Manual
539:Harrisburg Telegraph
456:was in October 1871.
392:Foster's Skat Manual
18:R. F. Foster (games)
823:Library of Congress
594:Francis, Henry G.;
181:Fiction book author
97:Edinburgh, Scotland
815:at BridgeGuys.com.
643:The New York Times
573:The New York Times
467:Pacific Coast Club
454:Great Chicago Fire
798:Project Gutenberg
596:Truscott, Alan F.
386:978-1-4446-4360-2
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123:Vanity Fair
79:, known as
833:Categories
807:Faded Page
757:Cab no. 44
648:2011-03-18
494:References
187:Cab no. 44
695:Who's Who
669:Facsimile
314:facsimile
255:559148057
101:architect
91:Biography
809:(Canada)
624:49606900
429:holding.
312:(1898);
301:04-11753
287:64686227
263:11215631
240:dominoes
208:conquian
380:(1917)
361:4895626
271:4551043
228:mahjong
781:time".
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238:, and
200:euchre
437:Notes
293:Games
236:chess
216:whist
212:rummy
204:poker
45:Cover
620:OCLC
610:ISBN
420:The
382:ISBN
369:ISBN
357:OCLC
297:LCCN
283:OCLC
275:ISBN
267:OCLC
259:OCLC
251:OCLC
232:dice
103:and
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796:at
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571:".
521:at
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
