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[New Orleans, Louisiana]: [Louisiana State Lottery Company], [1888]. 6 7/8” x 5 3/8”. Stapled illustrated wrappers. Pp. [16]. Very good: wrappers with some soil spots and a touch of corner wear; scattered spotting and soiling to margins and edges, lightly affecting two images.
This is a rare promotional, composed of drawings and poems, for the 1888 “Mammoth Drawing” of the Louisiana State Lottery Company (LSLC).
A scholarly article published in The Southwestern Social Science Quarterly (Vol. 20, No. 4, March 1940) detailed the fascinating history of the LSLC, which was chartered in 1868,
“as an aftermath of the War Between the States. The necessity of financial reconstruction was one of the impelling forces. The gambling concerns in New Orleans were corrupting officers and bribing the police and it was thought these evils could be reduced by making gambling legitimate . . . [LSLC] was an important force in the economic, social, and religious life of the State . . . It was stated that the company had every legislature in its power from 1868 to 1892 . . .”
LSLC was said to be “generous to charity and to public enterprises,” with donations to the Howard Memorial Library and the Confederate Memorial Building, among other New Orleans foundations. In 1890, the company sent Governor Francis T. Nicholls a check for $100,000 “to be used in your discretion to protect the people of Louisiana against the inundation now apparently so imminent in consequence of the threatening condition of the river.” Nicholls, staunchly anti-lottery, returned the check, and the money was “distributed by the company directly to the people to relieve the distress when the levees broke.” LSLC was abolished by federal law in 1892.
This small volume, in charming caricature and verse, poses various ways one could lose all one's money, whether through stocks, cards or poor choice of banks. It suggests playing the lottery to recoup one's funds.
The tale was followed by an announcement for the “Great Mammoth Drawing” of December 1888, featuring “three capital prizes,” “45 grand prizes” and “3,000 additional prizes, together aggregating over two millions of money.” It listed the prices of the various tickets (available from whole and halves down to “fortieths” for $1) as well as instructions and a form to obtain tickets by writing to M.A. Dauphin, president of the LSLC. The final page ran a “fac-simile – full size” of “one of Washington's tickets (still preserved)” for a lottery in 1768.
A rare advertisement for the Louisiana lottery. OCLC shows one holding. Very good. Item #8363
Price: $350.00