Catalogue for the auction of
Wisden Cricketers’ Almanacks
and Cricket Books
Held on Saturday & Sunday
14th & 15th September 2024
Lot 530
Estimate: £500/700
Hammer: £480
‘Feats, Facts, and Figures of 1904’. F.S. Ashley-Cooper. Published for private circulation by Merritt & Hatcher, London 1905. Fifth year of issue (there being none issued in 1900) of which only thirty copies were produced, this being copy number 27. 63pp plus iii. Original green front and rear paper wrappers. Presentation copy to ‘J.D. Betham Esq.’ signed by F.S. Ashley-Cooper. Preserved in a marbled board box with green calf and gilt titles to spine. Padwick 920. Very good/excellent condition. Rare
This was the fifth in a series of limited edition booklets compiled by Ashley-Cooper, issued between 1899 and 1906, comprising articles first serialised in ‘Cricket’ magazine, 27th October 1904 to 4th May 1905. Notable achievements in 1905 include Ranjitsinhji and C.B. Fry being the only two batsmen to average over 70 runs for the season, Hayward making eleven centuries, Fry ten, Hirst nine. Slow scoring appears to have been an issue. Of the bowlers, Bosanquet took 9 for 107 in one innings, and Blythe delivered his first twelve overs for only one run for Kent v Sussex at Tunbridge Wells.
J.D. Betham was a collector and author of ‘Oxford and Cambridge Cricket Scores’ 1905
J.D. Betham was a collector and author of ‘Oxford and Cambridge Cricket Scores’ 1905