Tag Archives: Joseph P. Babcock

ANOTHER TOBY SALK CONTRIBUTION…

Here’s another photo found by the wonderful Toby Salk and this one is quite historic. From The Great Mahjong Book: History, Lore, and Play by Jelte Rep we learn that our beloved game was brought to our shores in 1920 by Joseph P. Babcock, an expat working for Standard Oil while living in Shanghai. Babcock and his wife were great lovers of the mystical Chinese tile game. Here is a bio of Babcock by Jelte Rep:

And here is the historic photo that Toby found…It is Joseph P. Babcock and his wife enjoying an evening of Mah-Jongg with their friends…we might be living almost 100 years later since the game came to America but we recreate this scene daily (maybe without the formal evening clothes!).

THE FATHER OF US ALL…

Today’s posting is about a book written by the man we all can thank for our fun times at the Mah Jongg table.

In 1912 an American by the name of Joseph P. Babcock was sent to China as a representative of the Standard Oil Company. Babcock and his wife became enamored with the Chinese tile game that was all the rage among the ex-pats living in Shanghai. An entrepreneur by nature, he created a simplified version of the game, called it Mah-Jongg, and brought it to the United States.  He then wrote what was at that time the definitive rule book for the game and called it Babcock’s Rules for Mah-Jongg, which quickly became known simply as The Red Book.

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