The Northern Cricket Annual and Directory of Sports and Pastimes for 1889-90
Martin Chandler |Published: 2024
Pages: 122
Author: Uncredited
Publisher: Private
Rating: 3 stars
As if one new departure were not enough for him Richard Miller has taken another one here, with the republication in facsimile form of a Scottish Annual from 1889/90. The project is not quite an exact reproduction as Richard has added a very useful two page summary at the beginning, but that apart it is.
The summary, giving as it does a whistlestop tour through the history of Scottish cricket annuals, is extremely helpful. Scottish cricket is very much a niche area for collectors, thus whilst many items, this one included, are vanishingly rare the prices of those few copies that ever do appear on the market fetch are not in the same league as the rarest and best known English equivalents.
This particular annual, published in Aberdeen and aimed primarily at a local audience, ran for five years. That it had slightly different names for each of those years suggests it never really established itself, although at the same time this first edition must have fulfilled expectations as Richard notes that a second printing was issued a month after the first.
Containing as it does much that is of interest Richard has decided to make this one available, albeit as with most of his publications it has been produced in a limited edition of just 25 copies.
In terms of content as with anything of this nature the period advertisements are an education in themselves.A few contain some basic illustrations, but in the end it is the bewildering variety of fonts that always strikes me.
But what of the content? In fact the annual covers as many as twelve different sports, albeit the coverage for all sports other than cricket amounts to essentially just a directory of local clubs. Only in relation to cricket is there are any significant narrative content to go with the entries relating to the numerous local clubs, the fixtures for the 1889 summer and the laws of the game. Quite rightly the editor concentrates on the game in Scotland, but there is an article on the subject of the visit of the 1888 Australians, and indeed of the Indian Parsee team of that same summer, notwithstanding that neither set of tourists ventured north of the border.
As with most of his past projects there are only 25 copies of this one, available from Richard directly via rwsmiller@btinternet.com or from Roger Page
Leave a comment