Earliest uniquely American baseball illustration

[bgar3]

During this time I have begun to delve even earlier in baseball history collecting
And am putting some things together, finally.
Although I do not own a copy of the famous Carver book (too rare and too expensive), I have put it together in the earliest editions I could.
The illustration of boys playing baseball on the Boston Common with the Statehouse in the background Is identified by Block as the first uniquely American baseball illustration. It was also used as an ad by the publisher for the Carver book, also in 1834. The attached photos are from that 1834 ad. To supply Carver’s written descriptions, I found a battered copy of the Boy’s and Girl’s Book of Sports in the earliest edition I could find, 1839 on cover, but 1841 on title page. This first appeared in 1835, but is also very scarce. Unfortunately my copy has a rather large stain on that particular page, but I can live with it for now., it also includes the diamond shape, to go with the early rules.

[GrayGhost]

Love the history of our great game! Fantastic drawings!!!!