Cricket 1906

18 CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. F eb . 22, 1906. offered, he had over seven hundred copies of ‘ Lillywhite’s Companion.’ At the same time there was, in London, an old man, now dead, who, having first ascertained what books were being advertised for, systematically walked the streets of London and turned over every old bookstall and print shop in search of what was wanted. He earned a living by doing this. All these things set the whole tradeagog, and causedthe dealers at once to raise the price of everything con­ nected with cricket. Values rapidly ro*o. until they became abnormal. The sum asked for every item came to be far above any fair price. Further, the late Mr. Fred Gale was then writing on old cricket books and cricket, and was always looking out for such litera­ ture, and this helped on the boom.” “ Did the boom end there ? ” “ By no means. In 1891 Mr. Gaston was asked to write an article on cricket literature for Cricket , and it appeared in November of that year. This article attracted the notice of Mr. Sydney Pardon, the editor of “ Wis­ den,” and led him to induce Mr. Gaston to tabulate his ‘ Bibliography of Cricket,’ This appeared in ‘ Wisden’ for 1892. Again in 1893 and 1894 Mr. Gaston wrote a long series of articles on cricket books and their prices. These articles brought forward a considerable number of new collec*.ore who, competing one against the other, still further enhanced the boom and brought prices to their zenith. So little did dealers know about the subject that catalogues issued simultaneously con­ tained reports of the same book variously priced at from 2s. 6d. to 30s.—in one case which I knew, the prices for two books ranged from fifteen shillings to seventy shillings. *Bentley’ s Scores,’ which could be bought in the auction rooms for 2s. at the outside, was priced at 60s.; ‘ Jerks in from Short Leg,’ at the very time it was still in print and could be had from the publishers for 10s. 6d., was catalogued at 2Is. ; and even the Corbet Anderson ‘ Prints of Old Players,’ of which there was still a remainder of the original issue on hand, and which have been reprinted wholesale, rose from 5s. to 10s. each.” ‘ ‘ All this raising of prices and the learning of the fact that the publications on cricket were numerous,” continued Mr. Ford, “ naturally appalled the new collectors and cau>ed some of the old ones and many of the new ones to give up the hobby in disgust. This brought the supply to a considerably higher point than the demand, the surviving collectors being comparatively few and the literature a comparatively large quantity. Thus, naturally, down came the prices, not to what they had been in the early eighties, but about 60 per cent.—hence the slump which undoubtedly there is in the value of cricket literature as compared with what it was in the nineties. This is all for the good of the subject, and, as much of the old litera­ ture was of a very ephemeral kind, and what has been preserved is being gradually absorbed as the interest in the game in­ creases, so will the value of cricket literature again rise, but at a normal rate, which will tend to cause values to be retained. The dealers have suffered for their own fault.” It is commonly supposed that the reason why longstops in the old days tied a handker­ chief round one of their knees was that they wished to protect their trousers when they went down on the knee to stop the bail. Mr. Ford says “ This supposition is wrong. No mere handkerchief could protect the trousers, if by ‘ protecting ’ is meant keeping them clean or preserving them from friction. The original object of the use of the handker­ chief was tothrowthestrainontheupperpart of the trousers instead of on the knee. In those days flannels were considered as aristocratic adjuncts to the game, and a suit, carefully kept for cricket purposes only, would last for many years. The constant and sudden bending of the knee by a longstop was apt to cause the trousers to split at the knee, and it was found that this accident did not happen if a handkerchief were tied round the knee. On the same principle, a navvy of the present day ties a string round the lower part of his trousers, while ordinary people, perhaps unconsciously, carry out the same idea by slightly pulling up their trousers at the knee when sitting down. On another question Mr. Ford throws an interesting light. “ Has it ever occurred to anybody,” he said, “ that the block at the present day is taken on the crease a foot and more further away from the wicket than formerly, and that the reason why old players did so much cutting, and so simply, was that they stood nearer the wicket and off balls came practically as long hops to them ? ’ ’ In Vol. iv. of “ Scores and Biographies,” page 687, a remarkable single-wicket match is described. Mr. Ford was present at this match, and he says:—“ The game was arranged, as was then customary, to make gate money for the third day of a first-class match. A sea fog came over the ground in waves which lifted every now and then. Sometimes the bowler could not see the wicket, and then the game had to wait. Often play went on when the batsman and bowler could see each other, although all the fielders were hidden in the fog. In this case the bowler shouted to an individual fielder that the ball was coming in his direction, and the batsman ran or stayed at home according to whether he had pluck or not. In the end the ball was hit away, and as no fielder had the least idea where to look for it, the game was abandoned.” A few of Mr. Ford’s reminiscences will be of interest. “ About 1873,” he said, “ I was playing in a match at Formby, in Lancashire, and hit a ball for which four runs could easily have been made. My partner, now dead, politely told me that he was not going to run a yard, as when the ball was bowled he had not sufficiently recovered from running out the previous hit. And he declined to move. Three years later, at Olney, in Buckinghamshire, there was a wasp’s nest in the field in which a match wasplayed, and the wasps, having been stirred up by a fire made by some boys on the morn­ ing of the match, were not to be approached. In the course of the game a ball was hit in the vicinity of the nest, and as no one would fetch it, a new one had to be obtained. I remember that in 1862 the newly-laid Wood­ ford Wells Ground ia Essex was in so bad a condition that each single turf could be lifted up with the hand, and when a bowler had worn away a piece of it he simply walked a few yards, and picked up another piece to fill its place. I remember that in thematch between Southgate and Fareham, Hampshire, in 1885, one of the umpires on being asked why he had given a certain decision in favour of the batsman, replied cheerfully, ‘ Do you see those navvies round the field, sir ? If I were to give one of our side out for anything but bowled or caught I should be lynched to­ night ! ’ At Minehead, in Somerset, about 1896, a ball during a match was hit into the town sewer which was in a corner of the ground and was then undergoing repairs. The ball was not recovered, and it was sup­ posed that it was carried out to sea. Once I was playing in a match in Oporto, and at lunch time port wine was provided in pint mugs. I will conclude with the remark that at the Colney Hatch Cricket Ground in the seventies an attempt was made to discourage the breaking of windows in the adjoining houses, by imposing a penalty of four runs for every hit out of the ground. The runs were credited to the opposing side as extras.” “ In these degenerate days,” saidMr. Ford, “ when cricketers expect as short a journey as possible to a match, and to get home as soonas they can, it may be interesting to point out that in the old days the members of the North Devon Club started from their home at Instow at three o’clock in the afternoon, drove on a coach all night to play a match at Boconnoc, in Cornwall, played the match the next day, danced all the following night at a ball, and started to drive home again immediately after breakfast. To this day Devon clubs drive 25 miles out and 25 miles home, and play amatch, all in the same day.” Mr. Ford is of opinion that Mr. B. J. T. Bosanquet, the Middlesex cricketer, un­ doubtedly acquired the peculiarities of his bowling from his father. “ The father,” said Mr. Ford, ‘ ‘ bowled exactly in the same way as the son, at whom he used to bowl from the time that he was six years old. Once when I was keeping wicket for Enfield at Stratford, Essex, in a match against the Great Eastern Railway, I had occasion to stump three men from successive balls off the elder Bosanquet’s bowling, and the last of the three batsmen, on being given out, turned round and said, ‘ Well I’m ------. First chap said balls came from leg; second said they came from t’other way, and I ’m ------ if this one didn’t come straight! ’ ” W. A. B e t t e s w o r t h . A FEW OF MR. FORD’S TREASURES. It is unneccessary to refer here to Mr. Ford’s cricket books; he has practically all the scarce ones mentioned in Mr. Taylor’s Catalogue which is now appearing in Cricket. But a few special items among his prints and curiosities may be pointed out:— A printfrom Le Monde Illustri, published in Paris in 1868. Represents Oxford v. Cambridge at Lord’s. All the players have beards, and look forty years old, while one of them is smoking a cigar. A portrait of John Wisden from the Illustrated Sporting News of June 25th, 1864. Wisden is wearing a heavy beard and moustache, although he was always clean shaven. An engraving by Boydell, 1777. Represents the Citadel of Palais on Belle Isle. The English Fleet is seen, soldiers are marching, and on the parade ground a cricket match is in progress. Large coloured print of the elevens in Town v. Gown at Cambridge. Contains the only known portrait of the late Mr. John Walker. Water colour drawing of Box’s Brunswick Cricket Ground at Brighton. Representing a match in progress, booths, spectators, etc. An extremely fine white or cream coloured silk handkerchief, with yellow border, 3 feet by 3 feet, with, in the centre, a finely printed engraving of the XI. of England (Felix’s XI.) all named. A large cotton handkerchief, white, 2 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 6 inches, with, stamped in blue, all the Dlaying implements in the centre, and on each of the 'our sides a game of cricket (each different) being played. A large coloured print of F. Lillywhite in his printing tent, surrounded by the principal cricketers of England. Two gold seals, the handle of one being a cricketer in the act of bowling, with a haton, the other having a handle representing three stumps, two bats and two balls. Six brass buttons with the same device as above, inscribed with, over the top, in a semi-circle, “Albion.” These have probably come off one of the cricketing jackets or breeches of the old days. They may have reference to the Islington Albion Club, but there was also an Albion Club in London in the old days. Six wafers having diminutive engravings of six of the lithographs of noted cricketers published by W. H. Mason, of Brighton. Four brass passes to cricket matches. One of the Leamington Cricket Club, three of the Damall Cricket Ground.