WISDEN - photo 1

WISDEN

Lot 205
14.12.2022 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 4 410
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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Archive
ID 870919
Lot 205 | WISDEN
Estimate value
£ 2 500 – 3 500
WISDEN

Cricketers' Almanack for 1930 [-1939]. London: John Wisden & Co., 1930[-1939].

Important run of the decade of the 1930s, including the 'Bodyline' Wisden, and with the first appearance of the famous Ravilious wood-engraving of the top-hatted batsman and wicketkeeper. The volume for 1934 contains the full record, analysis and extensive commentary on the MCC tour of Australia in 1932-1933, later known as the ‘Bodyline tour'. England's captain, Douglas Jardine, in an effort to stymie Donald Bradman's prodigious batting, developed 'Fast Leg Theory', by which extremely fast, short-pitched balls rose into the batsman's body to force a defensive stroke. Designed to lead to a catch from fielders stationed on the leg side, this was an extremely dangerous tactic, and most Australian players sustained injuries from being hit by the ball. The Australian team, press and public unleashed a vitriolic attack on the English, accusing them of deliberately injuring their players. Thousands of miles away, the MCC at Lord's did not understand the dangers of 'Bodyline', nor appreciate the political situation, and it was only after the subsequent use of ‘Bodyline’ against English players in England by the touring West Indian cricket team of 1933 that the MCC subsequently revised the Laws of Cricket to prevent the use of 'fast leg theory'.



For the 75th edition of 1938, Robert Harling, Wisden’s typographer, was tasked with modernising the appearance of the almanack, consequently marrying the Wild West letterpress of the title with Eric Ravilious' wood-engraving. 'In one sense [the illustration] pushed against the modernising premise of the makeover ... But the Victorian image showed that the lineage of the game still filled Wisden’s arteries' (Little Wonder). Both aspects of the design have been retained ever since, with the exception of 2003, when Ravilious' illustration was relegated to the spine in favour of Michael Vaughan on the front cover. This created much consternation amongst loyal readers, and the wood-engraving was reinstated to the front cover, albeit in heavily reduced size.



10 volumes, octavo (161 x 102mm), vols. 1930-1937 each with a plate, the others with text illustrations, all bound in original publisher’s hardback cloth gilt, vols. 1930-1937 with printed yellow endpapers (1935, 1937 and 1938 vols. in fine condition, spines to 1930 and 1931 lightly creased, 1939 with small stain at corner just into text affecting first quarter of text block, the others in very good condition with only some occasional light discolouration of covers).





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No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
Place of origin:Northern Europe, Europe, United Kingdom
Auction house category:Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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10.12.2022 – 13.12.2022
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