It was then we began to realize that there were myriad books explaining how to play Mah Jongg but none existed showcasing the beauty and artistic nature of the different kinds of tiles. The seed of an idea soon grew into a reality, and we began to research the history of the tiles. Our task was difficult since very few records remain about the early days of the game. We were able to collaborate with a few people who are considered experts in the game and history of Mah Jongg. Together we have written a book showcasing the different types of tiles, materials, and boxes, as well as our thoughts about the meanings of the tiles. This has been a true labor of love. It has been filled with learning about many new aspects of the game. We have been able to meet and become friends with people around the world who share our love of Mah Jongg. No matter how its name is written, the game casts a spell.
Ann M. Israel and Gregg Swain, New York, 2014
Known as the Glover set, it was thought to be lost until it was rediscovered and properly identified by Michael Stanwick. This bone and bamboo set, c. 1910, is in the Brooklyn Museum.
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| CHAPTER 1 A Brief History of Mah Jongg |
Mah Jongg is not the ancient game some people believe it to be. Evidence places the origin of the game squarely in China in the early to mid-19th century. At this time, the game was not called Mah Jongg. The earliest name we know of was “Beating the Sparrow.” Later, the game had two more common names, “Ten Points” and “Sparrows.” To Western ears, the Chinese regional dialects of the name “Sparrows” may have sounded like “Mah Jongg.”
Mah Jongg is basically a card game played with tiles instead of cards. The suits on the tiles closely resemble those found on a deck of cards.
The early tile set suits were taken from a late 18th to early 19th-century Chinese deck of cards using money symbols. The three suits were called Cash, Strings of Cash, and Myriads of Cash.
Joseph P. Babcock, an American businessman who was working for an oil company in China, became fascinated with the game. He was an entrepreneur who seized an opportunity to develop and export the game to the West. He claimed he was responsible for naming the modern Mah Jongg suits, probably based on the inscriptions on the tiles.
Although the pictures on the cards were detailed, their designs became streamlined and more abstract by carving them on hard bone. To the Western eye, two of the suits may have looked like circles and bamboo rods. So Cash became Circles, Strings of Cash became Bamboo Rods or Bamboo, and Myriads of Cash became Characters or Craks.
The Winds/Directions tiles can be seen at the earliest in three sets from the 1870s. They also had many additional “Jokers” (Flowers and Kings tiles). The three dragons made their first appearance in the next early set, collected in 1889. But the Flowers and Kings that had served as Jokers in these earlier sets were no longer included.
Wealthy Chinese women playing Mah Jongg towards the end of the last Imperial dynasty in China, c. 1912.
It is not until Stewart Culin’s set from 1910 (now in the Brooklyn Museum) that we have what looks basically like our Western tile set, with the three Dragons plus the Flowers and Seasons. By then the Red and Green Dragons were also being shown in other sets using the Chinese characters “Dragon” and “Phoenix.” It was tile sets with the Culin set combination (three suits and Dragons, Flowers, and Seasons) that Joseph Babcock began exporting to the West in 1920. From then on, Mah Jongg became a huge craze.
Clockwise from top Close-ups of One Mayfly; One and Two Bams; Six Dot; an unusual Flower with circles and a character; and Three, Eight and Seven Bams. These early concave tiles probably pre-date Babcock’s tile sets.
At one time worldwide demand for the game was so great that bone had to be imported from the US. Photo dated c. 1950.
This bone and bamboo set has One Bam birds with a flower in their mouths, each bird slightly different, and simple rod Bams. Note how detailed the carving is on the One Bams and the Flowers in contrast to the simplicity of the other tiles.
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| CHAPTER 2 Mr Babcock Invents Mah-Jongg™ |
A chance meeting on a train in Oregon in 1917 led to the Mah Jongg craze of the 1920s. Joe and Norma Babcock met Anton and Helen Lethin and discovered that they shared a great deal in common. Both couples were newlyweds and both were booked on the Siberia Maru bound for Shanghai, China. Joseph Park Babcock had been a representative of the Standard Oil Company in Soochow for the previous five years. Anton Lethin had a position with the International Correspondence School in Shanghai. The couples formed a lasting friendship on their journey.
One windless day on the Yangtze, aboard a listless houseboat, Babcock observed boat crewmen playing a game with intricately carved tiles. Fluent in the local dialect, he learned the game in detail. The more he played the game, the more he became convinced of its sales potential back in the United States.
Left The arbiters of Mah Jongg’s rules are here, with Joseph Babcock squarely in the middle.
On one of their trips to Shanghai, the Babcocks introduced “Mah Jongg” to the Lethins, who struggled with it at first. The game’s rules were complex and not written down, and the tile designs were in Chinese. Babcock wrote simplified rules and added Western indices to the tiles. Lethin now saw the game’s potential, but neither man could finance a business so Lethin approached his boss, Albert R. Hager. When the game received rave reviews from the expatriate community in Shanghai, the Mah-Jongg Company of China was formed. Patent and trademark applications were filed in the United States.
Babcock contracted W. A. Hammond’s lumber company to ship sets to San Francisco, where the game’s sales were good but not great. Setting his sights higher, Babcock recruited a Mr Dyas to pitch Mah Jongg to Parker Brothers. George Parker tried a test run through several New York department stores but sales were disappointing, so Parker declined. Hammond, meanwhile, used marketing promotions in West Coast department stores. Players got free lessons and bought sets, Chinese clothing and decorations. The campaign sparked excitement. Everyone wanted this new game. Newspapers picked up the story, sales skyrocketed, and George Parker took notice. He bought the trademark and copyright from Babcock’s company. Unfortunately, the Mah Jongg wars would soon come to a head.
Above This photograph was taken by Edward Steichen (1879–1973) for Vogue, c. 1925. The caption read in part: “Close-up of the hands of model and writer Ilka Chase as she plays with mah-jongg tiles: rope of pearls wrapped around one wrist; on the other arm an emerald and diamond bracelet (the emerald conceals a timepiece), and a diamond bracelet; an emerald-cut diamond ring; all from Cartier.”