Many publications about Mah Jongg printed in the US and Europe from 1920 on, look like real books. Their bindings are first-rate. They regularly have dust covers. They count a lot of pages and images. But they turn out to be dolled up rules and instruction booklets. Often with an arrogant preface, sometimes with a misty bit of text about the history of Mah Jongg. As an instruction manual they are okay. But if you want to know more, you’d better read A.D. Millington’s The Complete Book of Mah-Jongg (1977). Or The Great Mahjong Book by Jelte Rep about how the game is played in various countries.