TENNIS, POLO, CRICKET, RACING…: HANDSOMELY BOUND, RICHLY ILLUSTRATED 13-VOLUME FOLIO SET OF BRITISH SPORTS AND SPORTSMEN

HUTCHINSON, Horace G., editor. British Sports and Sportsmen. Sportsmen of the Past; Athletic Sports, Tennis, Rackets, and Other Ball Games; Cricket and Football; Modern Commerce, Transport Motoring and Aviation; The Story of Shipping; Breeding Agriculture, Country-Life Pursuits; Commerce & Industry; Polo and Coaching; Racing and Coursing; Modern Flat-Racing Steeplechasing Point-to-Point Racing Coursing and Greyhound Racing; Hunting; Shooting and Deerstalking; The Story of Shipping; Golf, Athletics, Tennis, Hockey and Other Ball Games Winter Sports. London: Sports and Sportsmen, circa 1908-1935. Together, thirteen volumes. Folio (12 by 15-1/2 inches), contemporary full maroon morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, raised bands, marbled endpapers, all edge gilt. $7500.

Limited edition set of this profusely illustrated compendium of British sports and sportsmen, each one of 1000 copies, in 13 handsomely bound folio volumes.

"This retrospect does not extend quite to the days of Nimrod and the mighty hunters of whom we know only by legendary record, but it does go back about as far as oral tradition can carry. There is hardly a sportsman of note, of whom our fathers have told us, whose lineaments are not shown and his biography sketched." Illustrated with numerous full-page tissue-guarded photogravures and a vast number of photographic illustrations, with personal narratives from the experiences of various sportsmen from throughout the British Empire, biographies, and articles by leading sportswriters of the day. With hundreds of portraits, plates, and in-text illustrations of sportsmen and sports scenes. Past Sportsmen number 327 of 1000 copies; all other volumes number 989 of 1000 copies.

Light scattered foxing to interiors, only slight rubbing to full leather bindings. A near-fine set, handsomely bound.