Catalogue for the auction of
Cricket, Football, Golf & Sporting Memorabilia

‘Cricket. An Heroic Poem. Illustrated. With the critical observations of Scriblerus Maximus’. James Love [Dance]. Published by W. Bickerton 1744. First edition. 25pp. Woodcut title vignette. Bound in full brown suede leather with gilt title to front cover, raised bands to spine, marbled endpapers. Preserved in brown cloth slipcase with leather title label in gilt to front, gilt title to spine, ribbon tie. The very rare first edition of the first separately published poem on cricket, being the first known detailed account of a match with scores and written in verse by James Dance (1722-1774) who assumed the name of Love as a compliment to his wife. The mock heroic couplets describe the match between Kent and England played on the Artillery Ground on the 2nd June 1744. This copy came from the collection of A.E. Winder who purchased it from John Arlott in 1979 for £750. To an inside fold of the slipcase is a pencil annotation by Arlott stating ‘This is the first edition. See NBL [National Book League] Exhibition Catalogue 1950, Item 263’ (which refers to a second edition copy of 1745) and signed ‘John Arlott’. Padwick 6445. Slight splitting to the slipcase spine. The title page and final leaf with professional laminated small repairs, also repair to tears to page 3/4. Some age toning and staining to the original wrapper and pages commensurate with its age, otherwise in good/ very good condition. One of the rarest cricket books.