Mike Eufemia's unpublished book

[kling&allen]

So far as I know, the first real instructional book for pool was Mosconi's little red book that was published about 1948. Prior to that, the instructional books were about billiards or snooker.

Only to poke at you, but I would argue that
Phalen’s The Game of Billiards was describing a form of pocket billiards. Not that anyone would have looked at it to learn about pool 80 years after it was written.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Only to poke at you, but I would argue that
Phalen’s The Game of Billiards was describing a form of pocket billiards. Not that anyone would have looked at it to learn about pool 80 years after it was written.

I'd lump Phelan in with the English Billiards people -- his diagrams sure look like an English table except he sometimes shows a pocketless table.

I think Joe Hood's 1908 book comes closer even though it is mostly trick and fancy shots. His table looks like a pool table and he does have a brief section of "pointers".

 

[Biloxi Boy]

I'd lump Phelan in with the English Billiards people -- his diagrams sure look like an English table except he sometimes shows a pocketless table.

I think Joe Hood's 1908 book comes closer even though it is mostly trick and fancy shots. His table looks like a pool table and he does have a brief section of "pointers".

I called USM's library. I found a very helpful research librarian, but in the end I do not know which of us was more confused. She ultimately identified Hoppe, "Billiards As It Should Be Played" with a 1941 publication date which could be what I ran into. However, the size does not fit my recollection, but then little does anymore. For a while she was thinking that Byron Schoeman had a book, also published in 1941, but finally decided he was a co-author with Hoppe.

Ultimately, I read a book and changed my game.