Beschreibung:

K.S. RANJITSINHJI
K.S. RANJITSINHJI The Jubilee Book of Cricket Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1897. 1 vol. extended to 6 vols., 4to., photogravure and half tone plates, the majority signed, margins extensively signed at start of each chapter, extra-illustrated with handwritten letters, signed cabinet cards and signed photographs, many window mounted, contemporary half vellum, flat spines with black morocco labels, decorated in gilt with an art nouveau design, top edge gilt, others uncut. Provenance : William Clafton (bookplates in each volume) - Yorkshire Cricket Club Archives. NO. 50 OF 350 COPIES, signed by the author. Volume I (preliminary leaves, i-xvi, pp. 1-264) contains approximately 135 signatures including W.L. Murdoch, Hugh Trumble, F.R. Spofforth, William Gunn, W.G. Grace (twice), Lord Hawke (twice), W.L. Murdoch, F.S. Jackson, A.C. MacLaren, Lord Harris, a collection of 54 umpires' signatures (1920s), a signed cabinet card from the umpire, Robert Thoms, and approximately 20 handwritten letters including those from S.E. Gregory, G.H. Hirst, R. Peel and W.G. Grace. Volume II (pp. 265-368) contains approximately 680 signatures of players from fifteen various public schools and colleges including Chaterhouse, Clifton, Eton, Harrow, Marlborough, Rugby, Wellington, Westminster and Winchester, also signed by players from Oxford and Cambridge and from The M.C.C., also with approximately 110 handwritten letters including those from F.S. Jackson and C.B. Fry. Volume III (pp. 369-404) contains approximately 435 signatures including A.J. Webbe, the M.C.C. team 1924-25, and signatures of players from Derbyshire, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Kent and Lancashire, also with approximately 80 handwritten letters, one from W.G. Grace. Volume IV (pp. 405-428) contains approximately 380 signatures including Richard Daft, H.B. Daft and William Caffyn, and signatures of players from Leicestershire, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Somersetshire and Surrey, also with approximately 70 handwritten letters, including those from A. Lyttelton, P.F. Warner, D.L.A. Jephson, Maurice Reed, and Tom Richardson. Vol. V (pp. 429-454) contains approximately 330 signatures including Ranjitsinhji, A.F. Somerset, signatures of players from Sussex, Warwickshire and Yorkshire, The South African Team, 1907, and The Philadelphians' Team, 1903, also with approximately 50 handwritten letters, including those from James Lillywhite, Lord Hawke, G.H. Hirst, and Herbert Sutcliffe. Vol. VI (pp. 455-474) contains approximately 240 signatures including George Giffen, Walter Giffen, J. McCarthy Blackham (signed cabinet card), A.H. Jarvis, J.J. Lyons, S.E. Gregory, J.J. Kelly (twice), Joe Darling (twice), Clem Hill (twice), W.W. Armstrong (three signatures), M.A. Noble, J.M. Gregory, a signed Australia 1921 team postcard, signatures of the Australia team 1926, the New Zealand team 1927, the West Indies team 1928, the South Africa team 1929, the Australia team 1930, the New Zealand team 1931, the "All India" team 1932, also with approximately 70 letters, including those from Charles Bannerman, S.P. Jones, W.H. Moule, George Alexander W.H. Cooper, W. Trumble, S.P. Jones, P.C. Charlton and H. Donnan, and an original Arthur Mailey ink cartoon, signed by Mailey, dated Australia 1925. A REMARKABLE COLLECTION OF AUTOGRAPHS compiled by William Clafton in the mid-1920s. Correspondance inside the book shows that Clafton wrote to individual players requesting their autographs. In some cases, sections from the book were sent to players, who duly signed on the relevant plates, or in the relevant margins. Almost twenty five years since Ranjitsinhji's book was published many of these players considered it an honour to contribute to Clafton's collection - as L.H. Gay writes in his reply, dated January 5 1925, "I am delighted to send you my signature though I am afraid I am very much of a has-been" (Vol. IV). Clafton was not alone in compiling the collection. Many of the l