Exhibition to Celebrate Grace and Trumper

Anybody with an interest in the game cannot have avoided noticing that the year 2015 is the one hundredth to have passed since the death of WG Grace. Most will also be aware that the great Australian batsman Victor Trumper died just a few weeks before WG, so he has a centenary as well.

The period from Friday 10 July to Thursday 16 July 2015 will see a great celebration of these two anniversaries when Boundary Books, and Nick Potter Limited combine their resources to stage an exhibition of cricket art, literature, photography and other memorabilia.

The event will take place in the delightful South Oxfordshire village of Stanford in the Vale and, because the venue itself is the home of Boundary Books, in addition to the special items on display visitors will also be forced to try and resist the temptation of making purchases from Mike Down’s fascinating and wide-ranging stock, a selection of which can be found on his website.

But to return to the exhibition this features a wide and varied selection but includes:-

• An extensive and rare collection of early photographs, letters, ephemera, prints, scrapbooks and antiques relating to the life and career of WG including many special items from the unrivalled collection of G Neville Weston.
• Unique items from the life and times of Trumper, including rare photographs, autographs and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire his last match-used bat.
• Major archive of original photographs by Australian all-rounder Frank Laver, taken when he was player/manager of three tours to England during the Golden Age.
• The first fruits of an exciting new venture between Boundary Books and the George Beldam Collection to publish action photographs directly from the camera-artist’s original glass plates, mainly taken in the period 1902-1907 will be available at the Exhibition.
• A fine and previously unrecorded cricketing oil portrait by listed Scottish Academician William Crawford (1822-1869).
• A splendid oil painting of a cricket match by the highly collected English artist Brian Shields (1951-1997), known in the art world simply as Braaq.
• Original oil paintings, drawings and watercolours including a memorable study of Arthur Shrewsbury from the acclaimed ‘Paintings in a Garden’ series by Gerry Wright.
• Items from the private collection of Kent and England captain Colin Cowdrey (later Lord Cowdrey), including his full set of Wisdens.
• An important, museum-standard series of albums tracing the history of every Ashes Test series from 1882 to 1938, including a special section on the Bodyline series. These albums are crammed with scarce and unique photos, autograph material, tour ephemera and much else, including important items from the personal collections of early players.
• A selection of scarce and desirable cricket antiques including original cast iron Victorian stick stands, W G Grace pub tables, silver cruets, ceramics, desk ornaments and bronzes.

Throughout the exhibition the showroom will be open each day, including on Saturday 11^th and Sunday 12^th,from 10.00am to 6.00pm. Car parking is available on site and Mike fully understands a traveller’s need for refreshment before embarking on the difficult task of deciding exactly what investments to make. He can also direct visitors to a selection of local hostelries where lunch or dinner can be taken, an important consideration for anyone, but especially those whose purchasing activities are being observed closely by a spouse/partner.