Catalogue for the auction of
Cricket, Football & Sporting Memorabilia
Held on Friday, Saturday & Sunday
10th, 11th & 12th April 2026
Lot 1333
Estimate: £1400/1800
Hammer: £1300
‘The Cricketing Record of Major Warton’s Tour. 1888-1889’. Published by Charles Cox, Port Elizabeth 1889. Original publisher’s red stiff cloth boards. 219 pages with fourteen full page lithographic engraved portraits of the players including Warton, the Manager and Charles Aubrey Smith, the Captain. Boards worn, faded and soiled, binding a little shaken, breaking to internal hinges with some page section becoming slightly loose. Padwick 4619. A scarce book from this early first tour of South Africa
Post tour account of the first English tour to South Africa, led by Aubrey Smith. The tourists played nineteen matches, two against the comparatively weak South African eleven. The matches described in great detail, the two Tests were won with ease by the tourists. The touring party comprised of six professionals and seven amateurs, the star players of the tour being Johnny Briggs who took 290 wickets and Bobby Abel scoring over 1000 runs on the tour, three of the touring party did not ever play first class cricket. The manager Robert G Warton had played one match for Essex in 1878 and umpired in eight of the tour matches including the two Tests. George Ulyett replaced James Roberts who returned to England early on the death of one of his parents having played only one match. The two Tests are now regarded as being the first Test matches between England and South Africa