This dream book was published by Lewis Hartmann, 217 West 125th Street, in 1933, and reprinted subsequently (the copy pictured is from the 1940s). It was one of many published to help players choose the numbers on which to bet.
It contains an 81 page alphabetical list of words and their associated number, 6 pages of men’s and women’s names, and numbers for each state, for sneezing, for wedding anniversaries, for ‘happenings,’ years, months and days of the week, cards, and holidays. The final four pages contain a list of “Past Performances,” the numbers that came up from 1937-1944.
Below is a selection of pages from the book: 2 pages from the alphabetical listing; 1 page of names; 1 page of ‘happenings’ and a page of states and sneezing(source):
Ellen Noonan Now And Then, wrote that … playing the numbers, a form of gambling that predated government sponsored lotteries…. Where players placed their bets, which “kings and queens” ran the trade, and even see pages from one of the many “dream books” that players used to select lucky numbers. For her the best detail of all may be how the winning number was selected.
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