NEW BOOK: BLUFFING TEXAS STYLE

As the extended subtitle of Michael Vinson's book says, Johnny Jenkins (1940-1989) was an arsonist, a forger, a rare-book dealer and a high-stakes poker player who clomped around in cowboy boots and a Stetson while shuttling back and forth between Las Vegas and Austin, Texas. Jenkins was that irresistible type—a Wild West con man you couldn't help but like and almost admire while he was cheating you. He even, it seems, tried to cheat death by committing suicide in such a way that it would be taken for murder. Suicide would have shown weakness and deflated the legend of himself that Jenkins worked all his life to create. On the other hand, murder was a suitable, even inevitable end for the frontier gambler Johnny Jenkins portrayed himself as being. RIP.

Jenkins left his papers to the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and Mr. Vinson spent weeks there turning over every page. He also interviewed widely among the many booksellers, gamblers, collectors and academics who had dealings with Jenkins over the years.

Mr. Vinson has solved the long-standing mystery of Johnny Jenkins. His research shows that, beginning with his college days, there was never a time when Jenkins was not cheating, swindling, stealing and lying. In particular, Mr. Vinson has discovered stubs from the two checks that Jenkins used to buy the printing plates he then used to print forgeries of rare Texas documents from the time of the Texas Revolution. Jenkins had always denied that he owned these plates, but the forgeries he created with them were by far his cleverest and most lucrative swindle.

Jenkins, despite his denials, surely felt things closing in on him in early 1989. Besides the local news reports about the forgeries, there was also suspicion surrounding two fires in his warehouses during the previous five years, and it looked like Jenkins would soon be indicted on a charge of arson. He was delinquent on his federal taxes. Meanwhile, at just the wrong time, he had apparently lost interest in running his book business. Instead he was spending weeks at a time in Las Vegas playing in poker tournaments and side games where he occasionally won a little but more frequently lost a lot. He owed at least $1 million to creditors all over Las Vegas.

Although "Bluffing Texas Style" is an indictment of Jenkins, I think he might have been secretly proud that his exploits inspired this readable and solidly researched book.

To read the complete article (subscription required), see:
‘Bluffing Texas Style' Review: Forgeries and Fires (https://www.wsj.com/articles/bluffing-texas-style-review-forgeries-and-fires-11588113171)

For more information, or to order, see:
Bluffing Texas Style The Arsons, Forgeries, and High-Stakes Poker Capers of Rare Book Dealer Johnny Jenkins (https://oupress.com/books/15452018/bluffing-texas-style)

To read a 1987 New York Times article on Hofmann, see:
DEALER IN MORMON FRAUD CALLED A MASTER FORGER (https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/11/us/dealer-in-mormon-fraud-called-a-master-forger.html)

To read an earlier E-Sylum article, see:
MORE ON THE FORGERIES OF MARK HOFMANN (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n01a11.html)

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