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Cricket Books

neville cardus

neville cardus

International Debutant
I'm so chuffed I could post this message in all caps, but I'll settle for twenty exclamation marks: I picked up Beldam and Fry's Great Batsmen: Their methods at a glance today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's even better than I'd been led to believe, and the condition of my copy is pretty good, but I whimper at the discovery that it's missing the last three chapters.
 
Adders

Adders

Cricketer Of The Year
So is the rumour I hear true that KP has just brought out an autobiography?..........I can't seem to find any news on it.
 
watson

watson

Banned
neville cardus said:
I'm so chuffed I could post this message in all caps, but I'll settle for twenty exclamation marks: I picked up Beldam and Fry's Great Batsmen: Their methods at a glance today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's even better than I'd been led to believe, and the condition of my copy is pretty good, but I whimper at the discovery that it's missing the last three chapters.
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Interestingly Christies auctioned a 1905 1st Ed. copy of 'Great Batsman' in 1999 for £253.

BELDAM, George W. & Charles B. FRY. Great Batsmen. Their Methods at a Glance, London: Macmillan, 1905. 8, illustrations throughout after action photographs by Beldam, original green pictorial cloth gilt, t.e.g. FIRST EDITION. Padwick 687.

In 2012 Christies auctioned the same book, but with its companion 'Great Bowlers' included. The two volumes sold for £500.

BELDAM, George William (1868-1937, photographer) and Charles FRY. Great Batsmen. London: Macmillan, 1905. - Great Bowlers. London: Macmillan, 1906. 2 volumes, 8° (214 x 130mm). Double-sided plates and illustrations from Beldam's action photographs. U

So excellent find Neville even allowing for 3 missing chapters.
 
the big bambino

the big bambino

International Captain
Not a book but I was chuffed to find a few weeks back Charles Davis has a done a recreation of the scorecards from the 1920s to the 40s. This appears to be an ongoing project for him and I wish him good luck bcos - boy; what a task.

Anyway the upshot is he's collated player v player stats on most of the series in the 20s and 30s, while he still seems to be working on the 40s. So at last I can see the number of runs Bradman took from each bowler he faced in every ashes series up to the war. Which means I can correct for the estimates I've made and find a baseline for the bowler's averages before Bradman inflated them and it turns out they are pretty good.

Even so I don't think the Davis' recreations are perfect. For example he's got Bradman down for 973 runs for 1930 instead of 974. The missing run appears to be from Hammond's bowling. There are others. For example he credits Bradman with taking 398 runs off Verity whereas all other references have him scoring 401. Nonetheless it is more accurate than anything I've previously had and no one has anything better that I can find.

He's also done a table of batsmen who've taken most runs from an individual bowler and the leader is Sanga with 531 runs off Saeed Ajmal. Bradman is on the list taking 494 off Hammond. The rivalry btwn the two was so intense I'm sure Bradman would have broken his tee total lifestyle to best Hammond in a piss up contest.Interestingly Hutton averaged 55 against Lindwall. Not bad..not bad at all.

He's done a table of SRT's head to head and not surprisingly he averages well against all the major bowlers of his era except McGrath. There is also a table on the slowest 100 in terms of overs batted and the "winner" is Mohammed Nazar. His son Mudassar is on the list at no.9. What a family of entertainers eh? Can't recall Boycott being on the list but stroke player Cowdrey was.
 
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fredfertang

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
watson said:
Interestingly Christies auctioned a 1905 1st Ed. copy of 'Great Batsman' in 1999 for £253.

BELDAM, George W. & Charles B. FRY. Great Batsmen. Their Methods at a Glance, London: Macmillan, 1905. 8, illustrations throughout after action photographs by Beldam, original green pictorial cloth gilt, t.e.g. FIRST EDITION. Padwick 687.

In 2012 Christies auctioned the same book, but with its companion 'Great Bowlers' included. The two volumes sold for £500.

BELDAM, George William (1868-1937, photographer) and Charles FRY. Great Batsmen. London: Macmillan, 1905. - Great Bowlers. London: Macmillan, 1906. 2 volumes, 8° (214 x 130mm). Double-sided plates and illustrations from Beldam's action photographs. U

So excellent find Neville even allowing for 3 missing chapters.
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Quite why being bound in Moroccan goatskin makes that pair worth £500 is beyond me - need to bear in mind also that Christies' buyers premium is around 25% these days - these are lovely books though, but they sold very well at the time, were very well made and are not rare - all the dealers have copies, but still try to get £250 or so for each
 
neville cardus

neville cardus

International Debutant
fredfertang said:
Quite why being bound in Moroccan goatskin makes that pair worth £500 is beyond me - need to bear in mind also that Christies' buyers premium is around 25% these days - these are lovely books though, but they sold very well at the time, were very well made and are not rare - all the dealers have copies, but still try to get £250 or so for each
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I paid about a twentieth of that for mine. Mwahaha.
 
fredfertang

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Its very difficult to know what incomplete books are worth - for example an 1869 Wisden is worth a substantial five figure sum, but I know that a copy lacking its wrappers, advertising pages and, for some reason, 16 pages in the middle, went for £300 a few years back and the dealer concerned was pleasantly surprised to get that much

But that's irrelevant really here because the plates alone are worth at least what you paid - a cracking result Rodney
 
neville cardus

neville cardus

International Debutant
One doesn't find much in South Africa, but what one does find is usually a steal. Few here know how much these things are worth: I picked up two first-edition Ranjis a few years ago, in fine condition, for the equivalent of £10.

Since I'd actually like to read my newest acquisition -- Fry's words are almost as good as Beldam's pictures -- I'm going to have to track down and photocopy at a library the last three chapters. I thought I'd be able to print out the Google Books version, but it's missing the last two-and-a-half chapters itself. :-(
 
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fredfertang

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
neville cardus said:
One doesn't find much in South Africa, but what one does find is usually a steal. Few here know how much these things are worth: I picked up two first-edition Ranjis a few years ago, in fine condition, for the equivalent of £10.

Since I'd actually like to read my newest acquisition -- Fry's words are almost as good as Beldam's pictures -- I'm going to have to track down and photocopy at a library the last three chapters. I thought I'd be able to print out the Google Books version, but it's missing the last two-and-a-half chapters itself. :-(
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There are some interesting "action" photographs of games in progress, although sadly Beldam hadn't invented the "Long Tom"
 
fredfertang

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
For anyone who has a free morning on Sunday 16 November, and can get to the County Ground at Hove, the good news is that the Sussex Museum and Educational Trust is organising a book fair, but not just any book fair, one dedicated only to cricket books - there will be a number of dealers there, including Christopher Saunders, and there will be items of interest to all cricket lovers and not just Sussex supporters

I anticipate that copies of the book I reviewed last week will also be available, <i>A Pictorial History of Sussex County Cricket Club</i>. At least one of the editors, Jon Filby, will be present and no doubt available to sign copies for buyers, and also to take orders for his forthcoming memoir of Austin Parsons.

Having been able to attend last year I can confirm that browsing is an excellent way to spend a Sunday morning, so if you need to do so you have three weeks to rearrange your affairs - if grovelling is required there are a number of degent hostelries around where you can wine and dine the nearest and dearest, and an afternoon stroll down the beach is only a couple of Chris Gayle straight drives away

And, last year at least, it was possible to park free of charge at the ground
 
Pratters

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
Reading 'Days in the Sun'. It just fills by heart with pleasure as I read it. I intend to finish it in the ensuing fortnight and move on the 'The Fast Bowlers'.
 
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