Baseball

Chicago: Forbes & Company, 1912. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First edition. Pictorial paper over boards. Fine in fine dustwrapper. An attractive and uncommon book of humorous verse about baseball, rare both in jacket and in this condition.

Mattoon, Illinois: F.L. Horn, 1878. Unbound. Near Fine. One quarto leaf folded to make four pages, apparently paginated with the previous issue: [1], 6-8pp. A small stain on the first page, else fine. An "amateur" newspaper. On page seven (the third page of the newspaper) is an advertisement that reads as follows: "Base Ball Cards! 25 for 20 cts. Special rates to clubs. State position and name of club when ordering. Agents wanted! Send 3 ct. stamp for samples. Franklin L. Horn, Mattoon, Ills." Within our own little circle of baseball scholars and enthusiasts, debate rages over the meaning of this advertisement. Some are convinced that this is an advertisement for business or trade cards, others that it indicates a previously unknown series of amateur baseball cards, and still others believing it was an advertisement for a stillborn project by the printer, abandoned with no takers. The definition of "baseball cards" is somewhat fluid. A few cabinet photographs were issued in the 1850s, and the… Read more

New York: Office of the Commissioner Major League Baseball, 1989. Softcover. Near Fine. First edition. Quarto. Plastic comb-bound photo-duplicated pages with a clear plastic front cover and cardstock rear cover. 225pp. Handwritten copyright notice on the title leaf. A small chip and tear on the plastic front cover, page edges a bit thumbed, a near fine copy. The damning report prepared by attorney John Dowd for the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, which resulted in Pete Rose's lifetime ban from the league. This copy Inscribed by the Commissioner of Major League Baseball to a young attorney in Dowd's office: "To —, Thank you for all your help – Bart Giamatti." Purchased by us directly from the attorney, who reports that when Giamatti received the final report at Dowd's office, he offered to sign autographs for the staff, most of whom proffered baseballs. Our friend offered the report instead. Apparently later generation copies occasionally appear in the sports world, Signed by either Dowd… Read more

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1923. Hardcover. Very Good/Near Fine. First edition. Owner name in pencil on the front fly, a couple of small splash marks and a small sunned patch near the front gutter, a very good or better copy in near fine dust jacket with a few very small nicks at the corners. According to McCue's *Baseball by the Books: A History and Bibliography of Baseball Fiction*: "The first novel with serious baseball content aimed at an adult audience. The book is narrated by a former sportswriter, as Broun was, in love with a free-spirited, intellectual feminist, as was Broun's wife, while she falls for a baseball player who is clearly modeled on Babe Ruth. Numerous players of the early 1920s appear by name." Broun was a noted wit and a member of the Algonquin Round Table along with Dorothy Parker, Alexander Woollcott, and Robert Benchley. He was also close friends with the Marx Brothers. Exceptionally uncommon in any sort of reasonably attractive dust jacket.

New York: A.S. Barnes, 1957. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. First edition. Gift inscription dated 1959, boards a bit soiled, a very good only copy in a price-clipped, good or better dust jacket with small chips and tears. Engaging reminiscences of the game by the creator of Studs Lonigan. This copy is Inscribed at a later date to Joe DiMaggio: "To Joe DiMaggio with kind regards. James T. Farrell. Aug. 17, 1978 N.Y." DiMaggio, who is mentioned in the text, may have been forced to seek out a used copy to have it signed, and this copy has an old bookseller's price in it. Several of the books from DiMaggio's library had receipts from his hometown used bookstore, Moe's Books, in San Francisco. With a letter of provenance signed by DiMaggio's two granddaughters. *Shannon 100*.

New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1952. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. First edition. Spine a little faded, near fine in the gray binding (one of three, with no priority) in a very near fine, price-clipped dust jacket with a couple of tiny tears and nominal rubbing. Inscribed by the author in the year of publication: "For Charles Crow. Cordially Bern. July 1952." Crow was a friend of Malamud's from New York, and advised Malamud when he was applying for teaching positions, eventually accepting a position at Oregon State College. Crow's advice to Malamud is quoted in *Bernard Malamud: A Writer's Life* by Philip Maurice Davis. An especially nice copy of the author's first book, perhaps *the* classic baseball novel, and basis for the Barry Levinson film starring Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, and Kim Basinger.

New York: Senior Class Columbia College, 1924. Hardcover. Very Good. First and only edition. Rubbed with wear at the extremities and hinges a touch loose, very good. 1924 Columbia Yearbook featuring photos and accounts of Lou Gehrig's exploits on the baseball team during his second and final year at Columbia. Gehrig is pictured at least three times in the book and mentioned in print elsewhere: "He is now the property of the New York Yankees, and sage old scouts of the national pastime predict a bright future for him." Good call, sage old scouts.

[Richland Center, Wisconsin, 1938. Softcover. Fine. Typescript. [38]pp., and [3]pp. Black three-ring binder with typescript pages, printed rectos only; several cardstock separators, one with a typed label bearing the title; and a rear pocket with three additional typescript sheets, also printed rectos only. The binder is somewhat worn at the spine ends but the pages are fresh with scattered corrections, near fine or better. An unpublished account of the wondrous fictional baseball player, "Slugger" Sutton, based on a real small-town baseball league in Kickapoo River Valley in West Central Wisconsin. A charming tale of a small-town baseball legend who eschewed big league success for the ardor of his hometown fans. Further details available upon request.

New York, Chicago, San Francisco: Wilson-Western Sporting Goods Company, 1930. First edition. Two volumes. 8vo. The wrappers are illustrated with Rogers Hornsby in batting stance on the front cover. There are some marginal tears and general wear and soiling, especially to the Made -To-Measure catalogue; else in very good condition. Housed in a custom-made clamshell box of cloth with inlays of wood and leather. These two companion catalogues illustrate off-the-rack and tailor-made uniforms in a variety of price ranges. They contain original wool flannel samples, a drawing of the complete uniform, full description and price. The READY-TO-WEAR catalogue is sixteen pages (plus covers), fully illustrated and contains thirty-two uniform samples in a variety of colors and pinstripes. The MADE-TO-MEASURE catalogue is thirteen pages (plus covers), contains illustrations and sixty uniform samples in a variety of colors and pinstripes. Additionally, there are endorsements for mitts (with photo portraits) by… Read more

[Chicago]: H.T. Webb, 32 S. Clark St, 1911. Unbound. Near Fine. Mammoth plate gelatin silver portrait photograph. Image size approximately 19" x 14½" on a 22" x 19" thick card mount. Hand captioned beneath the image: "Grace Presbyterian Base Ball Team Champions Presbyterian Brotherhood League Season 1911." Toning and small nicks on the edges of the mount only, lettering is rubbed but easily readable, the image is fine. Spectacular portrait of 15 African-American men, all but three in uniform, with trophy, mitts, and a catcher's mask. One of the three men in street clothing is on crutches. All members of an African-American amateur baseball team from Chicago (references to the photographer Webb appear in various Chicago sources; he also seems to have photographed some of the Chicago White Sox players). Grace Presbyterian was established in 1888 as a storefront African-American church that existed until around 1917. The Presbyterian Brotherhood was a men's club meant to promote "masculine… Read more

Official NBA Spalding Basketball, boldly signed by 13 members of the 1997-98 NBA Champion Chicago Bulls including Hall of Famers Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippen. Additionally accompanied by a James Spence Letter of Authentication. Housed in a custom acrylic case. This extremely rare multi-signed basketball signifies the end of the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 1990's and marks the conclusion of the legendary Michael Jordan's tenure with the team, leaving a significant impact on both the sport and the world. Known for having one of the NBA's greatest dynasties, winning six NBA championships between 1991 and 1998, the Chicago Bulls have become a name recognizable in most any household. Founded on January 16, 1966, the Chicago Bulls played its very first game in the 1966–67 NBA season, beginning the __ . The dominant 1997-98 Chicago Bulls clinched the NBA Championship in six games against the Western Conference Champion Utah Jazz, securing Chicago's sixth NBA title within an eight-year period.

New York: American Sports Publishing, 1911. Hardcover. Near Fine. First edition. Thick octavo. Cartoons by Homer C. Davenport. Illustrated with photographs. Bookstore label on front pastedown, very professionally rebacked with the hinges reinforced, and the folds on the folding plates expertly strengthened with Japanese paper, a tight and bright otherwise nice, near fine copy. A much nicer than usual example of a book known to fall apart from the weight of its pages. Housed in a custom cloth clamshell case, with printed paper title label. This copy Signed by the author on the title page: "A. G. Spalding" and additionally Inscribed by the author on a front blank: "With my compliments. A. G. Spalding." An important early history, and increasingly hard to find signed.

New York: C.H. Ditson & Co, 1868. Softcover. Very Good. First edition. Folio. Originally a single bifolium with a single-sheet-insert making six pages. Notched and worn along the fold from once being bound, as a result the leaves are still partially attached to each other with the front cover mostly detached along the fold, light offsetting and foxing throughout, still a complete and very good copy. For voice and piano. Plate number, 24796. Inscribed by the composer in pencil on the front cover: "With compliments of Walter Neville." The front cover features a lithograph of a bald eagle shown with an olive branch, baseball bats, baseballs, and a shield with stars and stripes; underneath it states that the composer was a member of The Olympic B.B. Club of New York. An early example of baseball-themed music published just 10 years after what is believed to be the first baseball tune. Writing for *Sports Illustrated* Robert Cantwell explains how, “Twenty-five amateur clubs held a convention in 1858… Read more

A thick scrapbook filled with about four hundred vibrant trade cards, lithographs and other pieces of ephemera, most of it from Alabama and Texas. Most prominently, the album contains a number of exceptionally scarce invitations for masked balls, mystic fetes and other elaborate Mardi Gras celebrations held by secret societies in Mobile, Alabama.Though New Orleans is the city most commonly associated with the holiday, the first organized Mardi Gras celebration in the country took place in Mobile, Alabama, in 1703, when the city was the capital of French Louisiana. Beginning around the 1830s, Mardi Gras and other Carnival celebrations in Mobile were formally organized by secret societies known as "Mystics." Besides putting on extravagant costume parades through downtown Mobile, Mystic societies celebrate with formal masquerade balls. While Carnival season traditionally starts at the end of Christmas, the Mobile Mardi Gras season starts in November. Some of these society balls are held on New Years or… Read more

London: Constable, 2010. One of 35 numbered and signed copies of the Deluxe Edition. More than 500 illustrations, most reproduced in color. 480; 232 pp. 2 vols. Tall 8vo. Half red morocco, titled in gilt, marbled sides, a.e.g., by Ludlow Bookbinders. Fine in slipcases as issued. One of 35 numbered and signed copies of the Deluxe Edition. More than 500 illustrations, most reproduced in color. 480; 232 pp. 2 vols. Tall 8vo. The standard trade edition was 5000 copies; the deluxe issue was 35 numbered and signed copies in half morocco binding (also by Ludlow Bookbinders). Provenance: Fred Buller to Charles Wood. Bibliotheca Salmo salar 7