In From Short Whist to Contract Bridge, the author takes the reader on a fascinating journey through space and time and introduces him to such games as Karn ffel, Whist, Hombre, Quadrille, Boston, Cayenne, Vist-Preferans, Russian Whist, Yeralash and Stormwhist. These old and mostly forgotten games will eventually lead to the assembly of a number of 'proto-bridge' variants, of which only Collinson's Biritch or Russian Whist will survive the labor pains. In its turn, this 'mother of all bridge variants' will be superseded by its more sophisticated successors: bridge-opposition, auction bridge, royal auction bridge, plafond and, finally, contract bridge, the world's most popular card game...