Seldom seen edtiions of baseball books

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

In twenty or so years of collecting baseball books, I have seen dozens and dozens of Evers' book Touching Second.

However, I had not seen this particular edition, described on ebay as a Reilly & Britton gift edition.





The common book cover is shown here

Has anyone else run across this particular plain-looking special edition? Any other pre-WWII variations that we might not have seen before (hoping against hope that other than Barry, there are one or two baseball book collectors lurking on the site)

Max

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

Max- I saw that copy on ebay the other day, and noted I had never seen it before. It looks to be a higher quality binding than the common one you posted.

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

Barry

I did end up buying it and paid a premium over a similar condition copy of the "regular" edition. Hopefully, it will be as described in very fine condition for the interior pages

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

Max- nice pick up. It appears to be a presentation copy of some kind. Many books used one binding for mass production, and another for special copies.

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

Barry

That does remind me that one such book is "Commy" which had a special binding for the signed limited edition (1000 copies perhaps?). I don't have a copy to scan, but it does show up in auctions from time to time.

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

That special edition of Commy is gorgeous, and the cover was undoubtedly a costly endeavor.

I even wonder if the hardcover copies of Ward and Pfeffer are also special printings, since both books are more commonly seen with paper wraps.

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

Barry

I have heard the Ward was



A lurking voice also advised me that the limited Commy edition was 200 copies.

Max

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

About 200 copies sounds right.

Have you noticed we are having a private conversation?

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

I'm just pleased this thread has made it to 7 posts without you noticing (or commenting on, perhaps) my typo of "edtiions"

[Archive]

Posted By: william

There are at least three people interested in this conversation.

Books aren't really on my radar in terms of pursuits, but the topic is interesting. I love the varied interests here. Ok, back to you.....

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

Max- I actually saw "edtiions" but decided to let it slide.

[Archive]

Posted By: doug goodman

Make that 4 people...

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

That's the spirit, Doug! I wish more people were into collecting rare baseball books. That was and still is my passion, and unfortunately I've seen the rank of collectors thin over the last ten years.

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

Doug and William

I am trying to scan my book collection. In case you haven't seen the link before, it's on flickr at

http://flickr.com/photos/baseballart/sets/72057594052372441/ (

200 or so listed, many more to go)

Max

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

That's a great gallery Max. Saw the Muffin book in there, and you were right and I was wrong. It never was issued with a hardcover. I think Mark Rucker had his copy restored, and that is what I was picturing in my mind.

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

Barry

Steve Cummings also had his copy of Muffin restored. I heard Yale recently acquired a copy; perhaps that was either Steve's or Mark's.

Mark is now living in British Columbia in the interior, in case you hadn't heard.

Max

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

Mark lives in a town called Peachland (or is it Peachtree?). We just spoke a couple of days ago.

I sold Mark's copy of the Muffin book privately for him and it wasn't to Steve. There must be a few restored copies out there since the book is so fragile.

[Archive]

Posted By: Dan Bretta

I recently purchased a photo from Mark and was surprised when he requested payment be sent to Canada.

[Archive]

Posted By: sean

whats the best pre war books written by players?

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

Probably the best would be Spalding's "America's National Game." Anson wrote a book called "A Ball Player's Career" which is informative but self serving. John Ward wrote a how to play baseball book simply called "Baseball." It's somewhat scarce but not a great read.

Both Comiskey and Mike Kelly "wrote" books but they are likewise not too exciting. I would say Spalding is the best.

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

Sean

Almost all of the books Barry mentions have been reprinted, so new reading copies are easily available from amazon or abebooks.com

Max

[Archive]

Posted By: Mike

Max,
I just love books. I have many but not the rare ones like you have. Especially the Casey at the Bat stuff. Really enjoy your website. Thanks

[Archive]

Posted By: Tim Sanders

get into older baseball books- as a way of making a display in conjunction with cards that I own.

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

Tim

I use the cards to accent the books

[Archive]

Posted By: sean

nice collection Max! What book exist written by the 1900-1920 era players?
I know evers has touching second obviously but what other non-fiction books are out there? I just got through reading touching second and its awesome!

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

Sean

Aside from the ones Barry mentioned (Spalding, Ward, Kelly, Anson), the ones I can think of off the top of my head:

Mathewson, Pitching in a Pinch
Harris, Playing the Game
Cochrane, Baseball The Fan's Game
Ruth, Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball
Cobb, Busting Em
Ruth, How to Play Baseball
Wagner Baseball Grins
Harris Baseball How to Play it
McGraw, My thirty Years in baseball
McGraw, How to play baseball
Evers Baseball in the Big Leagues (later edition of touching second)



Fiction
Mathewson: Won in the Ninth, Catcher Craig, First Base Faulkner, Second Base Sloan
Scott: Third Base Thatcher
Chance: The Bride and the Pennant

No doubt I have missed quite a few

Max

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

Max- love the barrister bookcase (I have one almost identical to yours).

Max offered a comprehensive list but keep in mind not all are a great read. Some were written for a young audience, and others are simply, well...not very interesting.

Many collect the early books for the dust jackets, for the interior plates, or just to have them.

Probably the best read of all is Henry Chadwick's 1868 book The Game of Baseball, but originals cost thousands of dollars, and even the Camden reprint can be hard to find.

[Archive]

Posted By: sean

Thanks Max!
Is the later edition of touching second different?

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

Sean

Here's the later edition dust jacket. I think the text is the same in the editions, but I haven't looked in some time to compare

Max

[Archive]

Posted By: Joe

Here are some books I have. Not sure how seldom they are seen. Hey, I love Ty Cobb and Detroit Old Judge cards.

Joe





Ty Cobb, Spikes flying!

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

Joe- nice gallery of Cobb books. The top two are the toughest of the bunch, and what's interesting is the color of your Busting 'Em. All the board covers I've seen are kind of tannish-brown; I've never seen a red one before. I wonder if Max has seen this variant cover.

When I sold Steve Cummings book collection about seven years ago, one of the great finds was the dust jacket for it. It still is the only one anybody has been able to confirm.

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

Barry

Busting Em looks brown to me on my computer; it's probably just the scan.

I did see Steve's dj of the book, and a regret I have is not getting a copy of it when I could have. It is the only one I have heard about. However, Busting em is not that an uncommon book, and I would have thought there are a number of dj's out there.

Joe

Here's another Cobb book cover

At one point, someone told me this wasn't a photo of Cobb on the cover. I can't really tell for sure one way or the other.

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

It looks reddish brown on my screen, sort of brick red.

[Archive]

Posted By: Anonymous

Barry, it does have a red tinch to it. Definitely not a tan/brown.

Max, I think that is a picture of Cobb.


Joe

Ty Cobb, Spikes flying!

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

Interesting. So you have a variant binding.

[Archive]

Posted By: sean

Im almost postive that isnt cobb. Im pretty sure its george moriarty. I remember seeing it in the conlon book. Theres 2 tigers in that book doing the exact same catch and neither was cobb.

[Archive]

Posted By: joe

If someone can post a scan of another Busting Em, I would like to compare to mine.

Joe

Ty Cobb, Spikes flying!

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

Joe

Here's a rotating gif of the book from Between the Covers website

http://www.betweenthecovers.com/btc/item/86759

(The book is a tad high there; the last similar conditioned copy sold on ebay for $350)

Max

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

Sold on ebay for $350...listed for $2750. Only in America.

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

Barry

We've had this discussion before on the listing of high end baseball books on the internet. Some of these have been listed since the beginning of time--ten years or more.

It's a strange business model to hold inventory so long.

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

A strange business model indeed...why not turn over inventory and use that money to buy fresh inventory? It's one of the mysteries of business I will never understand.