Martin Chandler |
I am sure that I am not the only bibliophile who feels that Frisson of excitement every time I see a new e-alert from Boundary Books has fallen into my inbox. There have now been more than 700 to be exactly 736, but I have to say that the last one is the first to inspire me to write about what I have seen.
For those who have not seen it, the warning is accessible here. The subject will be fascinating for some of us and make me think about the way in which the acquisition of books and other items from CricketMemorabilia has changed in my time as a collector.
What I suppose I have to give away some personal information before I continue. I started collecting, strictly only Warmdens and other books in those days, in 1985. Seven years later my second child was born, and her older brother had learned how to open a bookcase. Mindful about the way I treated the ways of my own father as a child, my collection went on storage.
‘Out of sight is out of mind’ is one of my favorite truismes and has proven to be completely accurate here. With my books in the Loft for the next tens of years, I did nothing more than buy buy in April. Located far away from the small hands on the upper shelf of one book cupboard that I allowed myself in those days, they never damaged.
Life had changed by 2005. I had moved and my children, on those occasions when they visited, were no longer a danger to fragile memorabilia. Equally important is my gloomy prediction that the ashes would never be regained in my life, in that glorious summer had been demonstrated as unnecessary pessimistic. There was no better time to renew my interest in the books and I did it. This time it has probably become an obsession instead of just a hobby, but at least I am still able to occasionally have a conversation about topics than cricket.
The catalyst for my first interest in 1985 was a desire to learn more about the famous ‘Bodyline’ series A topic that, despite the acquisition of all books about it, as well as a decent selection of the pamphlets and Ephemera, me continues to fascinate me to this day.
So I bought a copy of The cricket player And wrote to all booksellers mentioned in the line advertisements in which they were asked for catalogs. In those days they were John McKenzie, Martin Wood, Ian Dyer, Eo Kirwan, Almeida Books, Valentine Books and Cricket Libraries. When the paper catalogs appeared, the routine to read them as quickly as possible and to get an order in the mail with a check marked as no higher than a certain figure, given that it was almost certain that part of my order would have already sold.
By the time I started collecting again, the internet had arrived, and only John McKenzie still published regular paper catalogs. Martin Wood and the company that Ian Dyer had started were online, and Christopher Saunders had come during my interruption and he did and continued to release print catalogs next to his website. Others were also online, and I contacted border books and bodyline books at a stage where they each had a few paper catalogs to send before they go to a fully online business model.
I also realized at this stage that there were dealers in Australia, Roger Page and Ken Piesse. Certainly in my time as a collector, Ken Piesse never broadcast paper catalogs, but Roger has been doing it for a while. Now in the ninetieth year and still exchange Roger, with whom I have had a long association, his catalogs still publish in the same style, although he now sends them by e -mail.
But to return to the business, E-alert 736. This is much more than a vehicle from which Mike Down can advertise. I have always known that the whole issue of bibliography is a special importance of him and if 736 is not entirely a treatise on the history of specialized cricket -book sellers, it is certainly something that is approaching.
So for those of us who are under the spell of the literature of the game, it is a pleasure to see images of the earliest catalogs that appeared and to understand a bit about how the market we all like to float in developing.
It is a matter of some regret that so far no one has written a decent book on the subject of Cricket’s book and Memorabilia dealers. I dare to say that you can appear one day, and in the meantime everything is not completely lost as the essential facts, in terms of an extensive list of the catalogs of the most important players until 1977 there is in the form of a book by David Rayvern Allen. A copy of this elusive Limited Edition appeared in E-Alert 734, and undoubtedly sold but undoubtedly a direct examination would rise the confirmation and whether Mike has another copy. If everything else fails, there is another way to obtain the information, because the contents of the book originally appeared The Journal of the Cricket Society.
Like 736, it explains that the first dealer was AJ Gaston, a man who had many cricket interests in addition to the sale of books. He published his first catalog in 1890. Many years there was only one big player on the market, and after the war that Epworth Press was in London. Why a religious publisher became the world’s leading cricket -book seller is an interesting story in itself and the man involved, Leslie Gutteridge, a curious character. Without the death of Rayvern Allen Boundary Books, a biography of Gutteridge would have published. It seems that now will not happen, but everyone who chooses to visit the showroom in Stanford in De Vale will not doubt, get the taste of Gutteridge, who had the kind of life that would normally not be expected from a dealer in antiquarian books.
And Gutteridge is not the only dealer whose stories are capable of in Stanford in De Vale. Unfortunately I missed the chance to have a few months with EC ‘Ted’ Brown, but Mike knew him well and published his biography a few years ago. Unlike Gutteridge, there are no skeletons in the cupboard of the Ted Brown, but it is no less interesting for that.
736 also indicates an interesting story to Martin Wood, and there is of course one. I will leave Mike to tell you about how he started his business, but the controversial incident Referred in 736 relates to an opportunity in which Wood deliberately damaged a provincial championship field to help win the title if I remember correctly. Frustrating I can’t find the edition of not easy The cricket player That reported the episode, but from memory I am pretty sure that an appearance appeared before the local magistrates followed.
It can be very good, these reflections after the event, which has already sold the majority of E-Alert 736, something that is always a risk where so many unique items are offered. However, that does not mean that an investigation is not worthwhile, and even if that is answered negatively, the showroom is still worth a visit. There is a huge amount of interesting stock there, and in reality far too much to take in one visit.
And I can also give advice on how I can be ahead of the curve. If you choose to visit while browsing, you will probably see a few small piles of items that do not seem to be in place-they will almost certainly be the next few e-alerts and are therefore available for a personalized preview.
The e -mail address of Boundary Books is mike@boundarybooks.com and their telephone number 01235 751021
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