Catalogue for the auction of
Cricket, Football & Sporting Memorabilia
To be held on Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday
6th, 7th, 8th & 9th August 2026
Lot 1747
Estimate: £70/100
‘With the 15th Australian XI- A complete record of the team’s tour throughout Great Britain and South Africa’. Sydney Smith Jr (Manager). Sydney 1922. Original pictorial boards and cloth spine. Signed presentation copy with handwritten dedication in ink from the author to ‘Master Eddie Shackleton, In happy remembrance of an enjoyable afternoon spent in Eastbourne in the summer of 1921 and with kindest regards from the author’, signed ‘Sydney Smith Jr, 3/9/23’. One folding plate and other illustrations. Padwick 5030. Some wear to board extremities, breaking to front internal hinge, otherwise in good/ very good condition. Sold with ‘The Shackleton Centenary’ booklet produced in 2014. Qty 2.
Sydney Smith was the manager of the Australian tour to England in 1921. During the tour the Australians played a match against an England XI at The Saffrons in Eastbourne. The Antarctic explorer, Ernest Shackleton, and his family lived in Eastbourne at the time, and Shackleton’s youngest son was named Edward. Ernest Shackleton died in January 1922 while on an expedition in the South Atlantic, so it is reasonable to assume that this was a presentation copy from Smith to Shackleton’s son, ‘Master Eddie’.