I spent too much time this morning looking up the difference between vintage and antique.

The terms get used interchangeably, but apparently shouldn’t be. Classifieds websites and social media are filled with posts about vintage or antique things for sale or trade.

Are they?

Well, not always.

Antique seems to mean something that’s older than about 100 years. Vintage is said to mean things older than 50. Retro is a different story, and maybe means a 20 year stretch.

I originally titled this post Vintage Bridge Magazines, but changed it to include the terms Retro and Antique after all the word-searching.

If you’re advertising anything as any one of the three, I hope you’ll remember the difference too!

Thanks to a list on Bridgegear, I managed to track down a list of magazines and their first issues. Some issues can be found here.

Here’s a timeline of bridge publications, and which ones were published first.

The Bridge World

October 1929

The Bridge World is one of the oldest continuous bridge magazines out there. Started by the bridge great Ely Culbertson, it’s still continuing today. October 1929 marks the date of their first monthly issue.

The Bridge Bulletin ACBL

February 1934

Members of the ACBL will be well-familiar with the Bridge Bulletin. Even as a regular reader, it’s impossible to have read your way through all of them since the start – so no matter where you begin, there’s always more to discover.

Texas Bridge

1960

I’ve seen enough movies to know at least more or less what states like California might have looked like in the 60s, but what about Texas? At the start of the decade, Texas was beginning bridge magazines! It goes without saying that it’s worth a read for anyone building up their magazine collection.

The Bridge Journal

1964

The Bridge Journal is so familiar to most bridge players that it can be shortened to TBJ, and most would still know exactly what publication is being referred to. In the world of publishing, that’s as good as a Grammy.

The Bridge Journal appears monthly, and has been since the swinging 60s.

English Bridge Union Quarterly

May 1966

The EBU Quarterly is released with obvious quarterly frequency. Although it’s meant for members of the English Bridge Union, back issues are fair game (and recommended reading even if you aren’t a member yet or at all).

World Bridge News (WBF)

October 1982

World Bridge News is the official magazine of the WBF. Of course, it’s the magazine to read if you’d like to know what was happening in any Bridge News of the past. Looking for information on a previous doping scandal, bridge murder, or card-table affair? Well, you’ll probably find references to it in here.

What vintage, antique, or retro bridge magazines can you recommend?