Those who pass by our Fulham Road shop on a regular enough basis will already be aware that our window display changes frequently. Just in case you won’t have the chance to see it for yourself, we thought we’d keep you up-to-date on the books, prints and curiosities making an appearance each time a reshuffle takes place.
Below you’ll find listings for each of the items featured; Should you wish to enquire further, you can simply email mail@peterharrington.co.uk o
1 (YACHTING) By-Laws and Racing Rules of the Yacht Racing Association of Massachusetts Records of Races, 1910. Rules of the American Power Boat Association and the Restrictions of the Y.R.A. of M. Classes …
Boston: A.T. Bliss & Co., 1911
Octavo. Original grey cloth with the title and Honor Shield of the YRA of M to the upper board in blue, Folding chart of Boston harbour at the rear, 3 plates of club burgees in two colours, illustrations to the text, and numerous illustrated ads. A very good copy.
Sixteenth year of issue. These handbooks are uncommon, and this a lovely copy.
£175
2 WOOD, Edward F. R. Sailing Days at Mattapoisett 1870-1960.
New Bedford, Mass.: For the Author, 1961
Octavo. Original cream buckram, title in blue to upper board and spine. Frontispiece and 23 pages of illustrations. Covers yellowed, and marked, crossed through in red crayon, and with a label to the upper board “Corrections,” numerous ink and pencil emendations to the text, small piece lacking from leaf, minor loss of text, about very good.
First and only edition, one of 350 copies printed for the author, this designated a “soiled copy” at the limitation leaf: the author’s own copy, marked up with his corrections. Wood was a banker who had summered in Mattapoisett since childhood, and whose researches into the town led to the present publication: “This history of sailing at Mattapoisett is the result of curiosity about the origins of the Mattapoisett Yacht Club, an organization which may justly claim a modest antiquity. Its traditional informality precluded the keeping of records, and little has been remembered from the past. A search of available sources reveals that sailing competition at Mattapoisett started in the eighteen-seventies, at the end of the whaleship-building era” (foreword). An attractive and uncommon little history that gives a sense of local loyalties in the East Coast yachting community.
Morris & Howland, p.159; Not in Toy.
£300
3 WILLS, Maury. It Pays To Steal. As told to Steve Gardner.
Englewood Cliffs, N. J.:Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963
Octavo. Original red and black boards, titles to spine gilt. With the dust jacket. 2 plates from photographs. Very slightly rubbed along the edges and ends of spine. An excellent copy in the lightly rubbed jacket.
First edition, first printing. Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper “To Cass and Al Anderson, Best Wishes, Maury Wills, 9-13-63”.
£150
4 TAYLOR, Marshall W. The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World. The Story of a Coloured Boy’s Indomitable Courage and Success Against Great Odds. An Autobiography.
Worcester: Wormley Publishing Company, 1928
Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine and front board lettered in gilt. With the dust jackets. Portrait frontispiece. Small marginal stain to lower edge, top edges of some pages lightly creased, overall an exceptional copy in the faded jacket that has some loss to spine ends and tips and some tape repairs to verso.
First edition, first impression, in the scarce jacket. The autobiography of the pioneering athlete Marshall Walter “Major” Taylor, who became the world champion in 1899 in the one mile sprint. He was also the second African-American world champion in any sport, after boxer George Dixon. Though celebrated in Europe and Australia, his career was held back by racism at home in the US, especially in the Southern states, where he was not allowed to compete, and the League of American Wheelman for a time explicitly excluded black cyclists. He retired from the track in 1910, at the age of 32.
£1,500
5 SELKIRK, George H. The Book of Chess. A popular and comprehensive guide to all players of that intellectual game with full instructions for blindfold chess. Numerous illustrations and diagrams.
London: Madgwick Houlston & Co, Ltd,
Octavo. Original green cloth, titles and decoration to spine and front board gilt, all edges speckled red. Extremities very lightly rubbed, head of spine starting to fray, faint cockling to rear board, prelims and endmatter foxed. An excellent copy in bright cloth.
First edition, first impression, of the author’s chess manual, including a history of chess and a substantial chapter on blindfold chess, a variation of the Royal Game which was officially banned in the USSR in the 1930s for posing a health hazard.
£250
6 (OLIVIER, Laurence) PRESTON, Charles (ed.) Hits, Runs and Social Errors. Choice Cartoons from Sports Illustrated. Selected by Charles Preston,
New York: Random House, 1956
Tall quarto. Original pictorial boards. With the dust jacket. Illustrations throughout. Boards slightly rubbed and dulled, lower corner bumped, light uneven tanning to front free endpapers from inserted material. A very good copy in the rubbed and creased jacket with a small chip from the head of the spine panel.
First edition, first impression, of this amusing collection of cartoons. From the library of Laurence Olivier, inscribed to him by Elizabeth Taylor on the front free endpaper, “Dear Sir Laurence, Thank you for always being so kind. Love, Elizabeth. Sept 14, 1960”. Olivier had been good friends with Richard Burton for some years, and it was Burton who hosted the party at which Olivier’s marriage to Joan Plowright (which had taken place quietly earlier the same day) was announced. Olivier may have encountered Taylor in 1953, when she replaced Vivien Leigh in Elephant Walk, but they did not become close until after Taylor’s marriage to Burton in 1964. In September 1960 the filming of Cleopatra was still taking place in London, and it is possible that Olivier had offered advice on the roles, having previously played the leads in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra and Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra.
£875
7 MCPHEE, John. A Sense of Where You Are. A Profile of William Warren Bradley.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1965
Octavo. Original black cloth, titles gilt to spine. With the photographic dust jacket. 26 black and white photographs. A fine copy in the the lightly marked and rubbed dust jacket.
First edition, first printing. John McPhee’s first book, and very rare with the red spine panel so bright and unfaded. Bill Bradley was a hall-of-fame basketball player who later went on to run for the Democratic Party nomination for Presidential Candidate in 2000.
£975
8 (LEONARD, Benny) FLEISCHER, Nat. Leonard the Magnificent. Life Story of the Man who made himself “King of the Lightweights”.
New York: For the Author, 1947
Octavo. Original grey cloth, lettered in red to the spine, and to the upper board together with a portrait of Leonard. Portrait frontispiece and 22 other plates. A little rubbed, and slightly sunned at the spine, a touch toned, but overall very good.
First edition, first impression, this copy inscribed by the author/publisher; “This is the first book off the press and the first bound. Nat Fleischer”. Born Benjamin Leiner on the Lower East Side in 1896, Benny “The Ghetto Wizard” Leonard, has twice been voted The Ring’s second greatest lightweight of all time behind Roberto Duran, Fleischer himself ranked Leonard #2 behind Joe Gans. Benny was no slouch. A bright copy with an unusual inscription.
£175
9 LEEMING, Joseph. Card Tricks Anyone Can Do.
New York: D. Appleton Century Company, 1941
Octavo. Original red cloth, titles to spine and front board in black. With the dust jacket. Extremities minutely rubbed, very small area of wear to cloth on rear board. An excellent copy in the slightly marked and chipped dust jacket.
First edition, first printing. By the author of “Things Any Boy Can Make” and “Models Any Boy Can Build”.
£125
10 JOHNSON, Jack. Jack Johnson – in the Ring – and out. With Introductory Articles by “Tad”, Ed. W Smith, Damon Runyon and Mrs. Jack Johnson.
Chicago: National Sports Publishing Company, 1927
Octavo. Original red combed cloth, title gilt to spine and upper board. Frontispiece and 15 other plates. A couple of small bumps to the spine, light browning as usual, else a very good copy indeed.
First edition, first impression, July 1927. An excellent copy of the early “autobiography” of one of the twentieth-century’s most emblematic figures.
£60
11 GIBSON, Alfred, & William Pickford. Association Football and the Men Who Made It.
London: Caxton Publishing Co., 1905-06
4 volumes, large octavo. Original blue cloth, titles to front boards in black and white, to spines in black, footballer to front boards and spines in white, yellow, and black. Each volume with photographic portrait frontispiece, 102 similar plates, and 117 illustrations in text. Ownership inscription in pencil and blue ink to front endpapers, pencil inscription to rear endpaper of Volume III. Spines slightly darkened, extremities a touch rubbed, minor wear to spine ends and corners, corners gently bumped, endpapers browned, light foxing to prelims and final leaves, occasional minor foxing to margins, text blocks strained in a few places and front inner hinge of Volume II slightly cracked, but bindings firm. A very good set.
First edition. Superb and indispensable work on the birth and development of football, in four volumes. The authors trace the origins of football, the foundation of professional clubs in England and Scotland, and the pioneers of organised football.
£900
12 (FOOTBALL.) Photograph of the Corinthians Football Team.
1896–97
Sepia photograph with hand-tinted blue background (325 × 235 mm). Framed. Some creases and spots to photograph. Very good condition.
Team photograph of the Corinthians Football Club, the most successful amateur team of all time, which was founded in London in 1882 and supplied a large number of players to the England Football team. This photo includes famous players such as Bertie Oswald Corbett, Arthur George Henfrey, A. T. B. Dunn, Gilbert Oswald Smith, known as “the first great centre forward”, and Charles Wreford-Brown, a leading figure in the Amateur Football Alliance and coiner of the term “soccer” for association football.
£1,500
13 DURANT, Ghislani. Horse-Back Riding, From a Medical Point of View.
New York: Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1878
Octavo. Original green cloth, titles to spine and front board gilt, decoration to front board in gilt, boards panelled in blind. Contemporary bookseller’s rubber stamp to front pastedown and recent bookseller’s ticket to rear pastedown. Spine faintly toned and gently rubbed at extremities, corners of boards a little bumped and rubbed, short hairline scratch and tiny stain to front board with short hairline scratch, tiny stain and bump to fore edge, very mild cockling to rear board, fore edge of text block, endpapers and prelims lightly foxed. A very good copy.
First edition, first printing, of this uncommon volume by a 19th-century physician on the physiological, therapeutic and even hygienic benefits of horse-riding.
£125
14 DARWIN, Bernard. Hints On Golf. With a supplement on Golfing Kit.
London: Burberrys,
Octavo. Original tan cloth-backed buff paper boards, titles to upper boards in black. Illustrated. Ownership rubber stamp of one R. Roller Richardson Commander Medical Corps US Navy to each free endpaper, some minor spotting and a very light scuff to the spine. Excellent.
First edition, sole printing of Darwin’s scarcest book, produced for marketing purposes by the London outfitters Burberrys. Darwin’s “Hints” are as pertinent as ever, although in this publication they naturally include a special emphasis on the need for appropriate golfing attire.
£2,500
15 CUTTER, Bob. The Rocky Marciano Story. Illustrated by Lennie Hollreiser.
New York: Twayne Publishers, 1954
Octavo. Original light blue cloth, titles to spine gilt. With the dust jacket. 11 black and white photographs and 2 full-page black and white line drawings by Hollreiser. Spine gently cocked, spine ends and corners a touch rubbed, endpapers lightly tanned, small light dampstains along fore margin of text block. A very good copy in a slightly rubbed and soiled jacket with lightly chipped and creased extremities, a closed tear to the tail of the mildly sunned spine panel, and splits to folds.
First edition, first printing of this short biography of the then current world heavyweight champion.
£225
16 COATES, Austin. China Races. Commissioned by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club to mark its Centenary in 1984.
Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1984
Octavo. Original; grey boards, titled in gilt on the spine. With the photographic dust jacket. Numerous illustrations to the text, full-page to the chapter openings, a few in colour, maps to the endpapers. Very good in slightly yellowed jacket, sunning at the spine.
First edition. Nicely produced celebration of this famous Chinese institution. Author was a British civil servant, long based in the Far East, during World War II he served in intelligence with the Royal Air Force in India, Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia, subsequently Assistant Colonial Secretary to the Hong Kong government, and Magistrate in the New Territories from 1949 to 1956; Chinese Affairs Officer in Sarawak 1957-9; First Secretary of the British High Commission, Kuala Lumpur and Penang from 1959-62, he retired to Hong Kong in 1965 to concentrate on writing and published extensively on Asian subjects.
£50
17 BRADLEY, A. Percy, & Michael Burn Wheels take Wings: The Story of Brooklands. Foreword by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales.
London: G.T. Foulis & Co. Ltd., 1933
Original black cloth, title gilt to the spine, blue top-stain. With the dust jacket. Portrait frontispiece and 15 other plates. Faint mottling of the cloth, top-stain sunned, light toning of the contents, else very good in unclipped jacket, slightly rubbed and with a few minor edge-splits and chips, but remains high
First edition. History of the famous racing circuit and aerodrome written by the clerk of the course. On publication Motor Sport magazine considered it “a book that should not be missed by any follower of motor racing”. An excellent copy in the striking John Wall dust jacket.
£175
18 (BOXING.) JOHNSON, Jack. Champion of the World Jack Johnson.
Brandt & Scheible, 1909
Offset-lithographic poster (470 × 390 mm), en grisaille. Mounted, framed and glazed. Central image of Johnson in boxing pose with stars and stripes sash around his waist, superimposed over a large laurel wreath, either side are oval vignettes, one of the log cabin the “Birthplace of Johnson”, the other of “Johnson in his Car”, the champion had a succession of flashy and fast cars. Lightly browned verso, a few superficial creases, a small chip from the top margin, image unaffected, else very good.
A remarkably well-preserved example of this uncommon poster celebrating the ascension to the world heavyweight throne of the great African-American boxer. Having spent several years trying to lure heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries, who refused to allow a black fighter to challenge for his title, into a match, Johnson finally won the title from Canadian Tommy Burns in Rushcutter’s Bay, Australia, following a one-sided contest during which Johnson constantly taunted the champion; “Poor little Tommy, don’t you know how to fight Tommy? They said you was the champion Tommy?”. Visiting Canada the following year he was somewhat more gracious; “Let me say of Mr. Burns, a Canadian and one of yourselves, that he has done what no one else ever did, he gave a black man a chance for the championship. He was beaten, but he was game”. Johnson’s victory made him “the most hated man in America because he was black, a winner, and he flaunted it all … On the eve of the fight, writing for the New York Herald, Jack London told the world, “Burns is a white man and so am I, naturally I want the white man to win”. But Johnson won, and continued to win, successfully defending his title for seven years. And each time white America hated him more”. (Hauser, The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing, p.64). Evidently cheaply produced for display in those bars and club-rooms where the Galveston Giant was venerated rather than despised, it is extremely uncommon to find this piece in such pristine condition.
£2,500
19 BLOME, Richard. Hawking or Faulconry.
London: The Cresset Press Limited, 1929
Square octavo. Original quarter vellum, cream-coloured paper boards, gilt lettered spine, top edges gilt, untrimmed. With the dust jacket. Folding frontispiece and illustrations reproduced from the original edition. Some chips, tears and stains to jacket. A very good copy.
First of this edition, with an introduction by a leading authority on British sports E. D. Cuming, limited to 650 numbered copies. Richard Blome’s The Gentleman’s Recreation, from which this book is an extract, was first published in 1686. Copies in the dust jacket are uncommon.
£275
20 (BICYCLING.) The Bicycling Times and Touring Gazette. An Independent Weekly Record of Bicycling Events, Topics, Inventions, Communications, and Subjects of Collateral Interest. Volume I.
London: Published for the Proprietor, 1877
Quarto. Near contemporary blue cloth, titles to spine gilt, marbled edges. Occasional photographic illustrations tipped in, numerous black and white illustrations in text. Later notes in blue chalk to front flyleaf. Extremities slightly rubbed and bumped, marbled edges faded, mild spotting to prelims, text block a touch toned. A very good copy.
Collects the first 32 issues, the complete 1877 run, of this early weekly cycling magazine which ran between 1877 and 1883.
£200
21 ALCOCK, C. W., & Rowland Hill. Famous Footballers.
London, Hudson & Kearns, n.d.
Folio, publisher’s black skiver-backed, matching sand-grained cloth, title and footballer device gilt to the upper board. 224 full-page half-tone illustrations from photographs, facsimile signatures to the individual portraits. Mild shelf-wear, else very good copy indeed.
First edition. Originally issued in 12-page weekly parts, or as single sheets in the News of the World, this is the first book issue, bound without a title page, but in what appears to be a publisher’s binding. One of the first serious “fan” publications for the burgeoning sports, edited on the “association” side by Charlie Alcock, one of the early codifiers and administrators of the game, Secretary of the FA, instigator of the FA Cup, and the first man ever to be ruled offside; and the Rugby editor George Rowland Hill, for 23 years the Honorary Secretary of the RFU, and the man who proposed the split between Union and League. Contains individual and team portraits of the greatest exponents of both the Rugby and Association codes, in the days when football was football and a moustache was essential. Team portraits include Southampton St. Mary’s, Wolves, Sheffield Wednesday, Corinthians, Harlequins and The Royal Arsenal. Amongst the individuals featured are the sporting prodigy C.B. Fry, described by John Arlott as “… probably the most variously gifted Englishman of any age,” and Arthur Wharton, the first black professional football player in the world.
£625
22 FRANCIS, Dick. The Sport of Queens.
London, Michael Joseph, 1957
Octavo. Original blue cloth, titles to spine gilt. With the pictorial dust jacket. Photographic frontispiece, further photographic illustrations throughout. Owners name to front free endpaper, dust jacket chipped and creased to the edges and corners.
First Edition, First Impression. The literate jockey’s autobiography. His first published book.
Sold.
£250
23 (CRICKET.) HOBBS, Jack. Playing for England! My Test-Cricket Story. With a foreword by Thomas Moult.
London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1931
Octavo. Original red cloth, titles to spine black. With the dust jacket. Frontispiece and 7 monochrome plates. Boards slightly bowed, a little minor foxing to edges, small bump to front board. A very good copy in the jacket with some nicks and shallow chips to extremities, and small tear to centre of spine panel.
First edition, first impression. From the publisher’s archive.
Sold.
£125
