Cricket 1904

J an . 28, 1904. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 13 THE RECORDS OF THE GAME. There can be little doubt but that the actual scores of matches form in them­ selves the backbone of a cricketer’s library. Theoretical works are all very ■well in their place, but the real history of the game lies in the first instance in the “ full score.” The great difficulty which present day collectors experience in unearthing the earlier years of “ Wisden’s Cricketer’s Almanack ” points pretty clearly to the direction in which popular taste has lain. The “ Almanack,” indeed, may fairly be quoted as being facile princeps as a record of cricket. It is also pretty safe to say that its popularity centres in the fact that it contains full scores and good reports. In its present form it is difficult to see how it could be improved upon unless, for the purpose of facilitating reference, the “ First-class Averages” were made to include the name o f every man who appears in a first-class match during the season. Commencing in 1864, the “ Almanack ” in its first six issues limited itself to a bare record of full scores with­ out either reports or bow ling analyses, and here as a matter of utility, apart from fancy, the collector may be well- advised to equip himself with vols. 8 to 10 of “ Scores and Biographies,” instead of pursuing his search for the first six years of “ Wisden.” The three vols. named give full scores of all first-class and endless other matches from 1863 to 1868, in addition to bow ling analyses of the first-class matches, not to mention the decidedly useful accompaniment of the biographies. The 1870 issue of “ Wisden ” was an immense improvement on its predecessors, reports and bowling analyses being introduced for the first time, and the averages of the county clubs included, in addition to other use­ ful matter. There are, however, two or three points which m ight have been looked to in the 1870 and other early issues. For instance, the table of first- class averages was not embodied till 1887, and it is singular that some important matches played by the Universities are missing, nor were their averages given until the 1880 issue, while a review of their doings first appeared in 1885. There are also a few matches played between North and South that are omitted, as well as Gentlemen of the North v. Gentlemen of the South (two very fine teams) played at Scarborough in 1879, Derbyshire v. An England Eleven in 1878, and the matches played by Lillywhite’s Team in Australia in the winter of 1876-77, in the course of which England and Australia first met on level terms. I t is perhaps also a pity that the record of the 1873-74 English team in Australia only appears in precis. The matches it is true were all against “ Odds,” but the scores of “ The Eleven ” might well have been set out in full. All these missing scores, with the exception, of course, of the Scarborough match in 1879, are given in full in “ Scores and Biographies,” while the matches of the English teams in Australia in 1873-4 and 1876-7 are also to be found in Lillywhite’s “ A n nu a l” of 1875 and 1878. There is none the less no gainsajing the value o f “ W isden ” as a record, complete sets having realised 12 and 15 guineas, while the publishers are now asking £20 for the series. Most of the numbers prior to 1879 and, at least, one subse­ quent to that date realise fancy prices. Within the last few years a copy of 1875 was sold at the fabulous figure of £4 10s. The feature of photographs was first introduced into the “ A lm anack” in 1889. Lillywhite’s “ Companion ” and Lillywhite’s “ Annual,” both now de­ funct, present their special and original features in the way they deal with uni­ versity and public school cricket, albeit they do not deal in full scores. Their tables of “ first-class averages” also supply a want that is felt in “ W isden” prior to 1887, and their notes on amateurs and professionals are also useful. A rather glaring omission occurs in the “ Companion” of 1874, there being no record of the university match, while the “ First-class Averages ” for some reason do not occur. What a magnificent p ro­ duction m ight have been turned out if the specialities of “ Lilly white,” “ Score? and Biographies,” and ‘ ‘ W isden” had been embodied in one publication. In passing it may be remarked that all the years of Lillywhite’s “ Annual” are in print, with the exception of 1872, 1874, 1875, 1877, and 1878. A ll the remaining copies of the “ Companion ” became dis­ persed on A. W . Fenner’s sale, but pre­ viously the years 1865, 1866, 1867, 1870 and 1875 were all scarce. The “ Com­ panion ” was first published in 1865, and the “ Annual ” in 1872, in which year the latter passed through two editions. The two publications were fused in 1886. The “ Companion ” of 1870 contains a register of individual Centuries hit in first- class matches since 1850. As matters stand, the collector needs either the “ Annual” or “ Companion” together with “ Scores and Biographies” and “ W isden” if he is to be fully equipped for reference purposes. So difficult is it to meet “ Wisden ” prior to 1879 that it w ill be matter of small surprise if V ol. 8 to 14 of “ Scores and Biographies ” (1863- 1878) do not eventually realise the sale originally anticipated. Allied with “ Lillywhite ” they form an admirable source of reference. Both the “ Scores ” and the “ Biographies” have been in­ dexed in separate publications. Yols. 5 to 14 are all in print, giving scores of all matches from 1855 to 1878, and may be had at the discount price of £ 4 10s. through Messrs. A. and F. Denny, of 147, Strand. Vols. I. to IY . (1746- 1854) are very scarce, and have sold at from £9 to £10 10s. They were published in 1862 and 1863 by Frederick Lillywhite under the title of “ Frederick Lillywhite’s Cricket Scores and Biographies,” but on his death were advertised for sale at 6 s. a volume, or a guinea the four by his brother John. In the light of subsequent events, what a magnificent opportunity they afforded to the long-sighted specu­ lator ! J ohn Lillywhite substituted a new title page bearing his own name and address as publisher, and removed the foot-dates 1862, 1863. The title was altered b y him to “ Lillywhite’s Scores and Biographies” (without the “ Frederick ” ), and the new covers bore the same inscription. Anyone who examines one of these doctored title- pages will see that they are obviously “ pasted on.” About ten years ago a book hunter in the North of England came across several setsof the first three volumes in the neighbourhood of Manchester. They had been ordered for the members of a cricket club, but had never been taken up. H e purchased them good as new for an old song, a wonderful bargain. There is a case on record of Vols. 1 to 13 (1746-1876) realising £20. This must have been quite an exceptional transac­ tion, as not more than £3 could reason­ ably be apportioned as the value of the Vols. 5 to 13. Old Fred Lillywhite’s “ Guide to Cricketers,” which ran from 1849 to 1866 (being in 1867 embodied in the “ Companion,” which in its turn was incorporated with the “ Annual ” in 1886) was a quaint and interesting production and a most useful companion book to “ Scires and Biographies.” It is an open question whether there are as many as six complete sets of the “ Guide ” in England. One of these changed hands in 1899 at the handsome price of 17 guineas ! Harking back once again to “ Scores and Biographies,” it is worth recording that Vol. 3 suffered wholesale destruction under very singular cir­ cumstances, which entirely accounts for single copies bringing as much as £3 to £4. Vol. IV . is very nearly as rare from the same cause, but the M.C.C. will occasionally part with Vols. I. and II. There seems to be small likelihood of this publication ever being continued beyond its present stage— 1878; but if in accordance with a very common-sense suggestion by “ Wanderer” in the Sportsman the “ Biographies” were car­ ried on b y themselves, the scores as given in “ Wisden ” would practically supply all else that is required. Cricket c^uld probably furnish a goodly list of sub­ scribers if the idea were properly venti­ lated. It is, of course, to be understood that these lines deal only with the main records of first-class cricket published in England. J. B. P a y n e . TO W IL FR ID -BOW L IN G : [A R eminiscence op the S econd T est M atch ] When Wilfrid Rhodes a’bowling goes, Then, then, methinks, how fiercely flows The stream of curses from his foes ! When Wilfrid makes ’em break both ways, I fear I can’t repeat each phrase That Mr. M. A. Noble says. As one by one he sendeth back Each mighty Australasian crack, “ Plum ” Warner’s face no smile doth lack. S. L. S. R ICHARD DAFT’S “ Nottinghamshire Marl.” — Particulars apply, Radcliffe on-Trent, Notts. [A dvt .]