LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 May Sports Sig. Auction #707  / 

19579

1868 "The Game of Base Ball" by Henry Chadwick.

Currency:USD Category:Sports - Cards & Fan Shop / Sports - Vintage Sports Memorabilia Start Price:750.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
1868 The Game of Base Ball by Henry Chadwick.
<B>1868 "The Game of Base Ball" by Henry Chadwick.</B></I> Entitled in full, "The Game of Base Ball, How to Learn It, How to Play It and How to Teach It, with Sketches of Noted Players," this tremendously scarce volume is considered to be one of the most important histories of our National Pastime, and certainly one of the earliest. The author Henry Chadwick, one of the era's most prominent sportswriters, is universally recognized as one of the foremost pioneers of the sport, and this book could be credited with encouraging the spread of the game to which Chadwick dedicated so much. The contents of the book are quite well characterized by the lengthy title, and the 178 pages of text present the most comprehensive insight into the first evolutionary steps of the game available. Despite evident surface wear to the hardcover exterior, which provides embossed golden lettering reading "Chadwick's American Game of Base Ball," the book separates itself from the small available population with a tight binding and an absence of staining or tearing to the interior pages. The interior cover and two of the opening pages feature handwritten (pencil) identifying text from the original owner with the comical notation, "You Stole this Book from The Active B.B.C., Norwalk, Ohio, May 2nd, 1868." Found in only the finest of private baseball libraries, this book is estimated to be one of just twenty that has survived to this day. One must assume that this example ranks among the finest of that thin supply.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Flat Material, Small (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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