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Early Cricket Project
Source Material
Compiled by Don Ambrose
(an ongoing work)
A few years ago when I first became interested in Early Cricket I was acutely aware of the scarcety
of the original published sorces for scores. I was also rapidly aware of the cost of the reference books
required to access those sources and the lack of their availability in public libraries and record offices.
In fact it was this very problem that led to formation first of the Cricket Society, who talked about it
incessantly, and later the ACS, who started to do something. Dealers in Historic Sporting Books saw
that there was a potential market and backed by enthusiasts came into the market and by so doing
enlarged the market considerably for old books and created a new market for facsimiles. Still not
cheap, but at a not unreasonable price, readily accessable.
W.EPPS: Grand Matches of Cricket 1771 to 1791.
Originally published in Rochester in 1799.
Reprinted in exact facsimile with a new introduction by David Rayvern Allen, by J.W.McKenzie, Ewell, in 1989 at £16.
104 pages.
H.BENTLEY: A Correct Account of all the Cricket Matches which have been played by the Mary-le-bone Club and all other principal matches from the year 1786 to 1822 inclusive.
: ditto - for the year 1823.
: ditto - in the years 1824 and 1825.
Originally published in London in 1823 and 1826.
Reprinted in exact facsimile with a new preface by David Rayvern Allen, by Roger Heavens, Little Eversden, in 1987. A limited edition of 400 copies £50.
372 + 20 + 44 pages.
S.BRITCHER: A series of booklets published between 1790 in Maidstone and 1805 in London.
A list of all the Principal Matches of Cricket for each of 16 years in 15 volumes.
1790 (16 pages); 1791 (28); 1792 (28); 1793 (28); 1794 (30); 1795 (36); 1796 (40);
1797 (36); 1798 (48); 1799 (32); 1800 (44); 1801 (44); 1802 (32); 1803 (36);
1804 and 1805 (30 pages).
Reprinted in exact facsimile, together with a 150 page book on Britcher's Scores by David Rayvern Allen, by Christopher Saunders, Newnham-on-Sebern, in 2003, as a 212 copy liimited subscription edition in the M.C.C. Cricket Library Series. £350.
This is a complete set of extremely rare booklets. No complete set of originals exists.
It was not until 1862 that the first volume appeared of a series of books that leaned heavily on the three
works already quoted but was supplemented by research in old newspapers, magazines, diaries and
estate papers, and also greatly added to and illuminated by much biographical original research.
A.HAYGARTH: Frederick Lillywhite's Cricket Scores and Biographies of Selebrated Cricketers from 1746 to 1826. Volume 1.
556 pages with a 40 page preface.
Compiled by Arthur Haygarth and published in London in 1862.
Reprinted in exact facsimile by Roger Heavens, Cambridge, 1996. £50.
An index to this volume, compiled by Roger Heavens, was published in Cambridge in 1995. £4.95.
There have been a number of other indexes of this book, published and unpublished over the years.
A further 13 volumes of this valuable work appeared over the years up to 1895, taking the collection of
scores and biographies up to 1878.
All have been reprinted in facsimile by Roger Heavens.
Manuscripts carrying the work in another 20 volumes up to 1898 are held in the M.C.C. Library
In 2003 Roger Heavens published Volume 16, covering the year 1879, and more are planned.
In 1925 F.S.Ashley-Cooper published Volume 15, being a 437 page edition dealing entirely with biographies and containing an index of the biographies in the previos 14 volumes.
F.S.ASHLEY-COOPER
This man was a prodigious writer on the game and in addition to the 15th Volume of Scores and Biographies, already mentioned, he wrote or contributed to well over 100 books and booklets on the game, many of them being limited edition offprints of his even greater selection of magazine articles.
These are listed in detail in: F.S.Ashley-Cooper: A Biographical Sketch & Bibliography. By Peter Wynne-Thomas, published by ACS Publications in 2003, 40 pages, £3-50.
This was followed by: More Ashley-Cooper. Notes on "F.S.Ashley-Cooper: etc." By Martin Wilson. A first limited edition of 4 copies was privately distributed and was followed by a second limited edition of 10, published by Christopher Saunders in 2004, 8 un-numbered pages, £25.
Earlier bibliographical works on this author includes those by G.Neville Weston (1933) and Irving Rosenwater (1964).
Among all his other works the following are considered essential reading for the early cricket enthusiast:
The History of Kent County Cricket edited by Lord Harris, and published by Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1907.
I am not sure of the original price but a copy can usually be picked up a the usual dealers at about £100. 510 pages.
Ashley-Cooper made a major contribution which included a 118 page 'Register of Kent County Cricketers, 1729 -1906.'
Kent Cricket Matches, 1719-1880 edited by Lord Harris and F.S.Ashley-Cooper. Published by Gibbs & Sons, Canterbury, 1929. The usual price is £25 to £40. 500 pages.
The first 93 pages cover 18th Century cricket.
The Hambledon Cricket Chronicle 1772-1796 by F.S.Ashley-Cooper with an introduction by E.V.Lucas. Published Herbert Jenkins Ltd., London 1924. About £40.
At The Sign Of The Wicket. Cricket 1742-1751 by F.S.Ashley-Cooper. Published as a series of 6 articles in the magazine'Cricket:a weekly record of the game,' between 25th January 1900 and 26th April 1900.
An offprint was published by Merritt & Hatcher in 1900, limited to 15 copies, x + 74 p., the years bound volume of the magazine would cost upwards of £100.
Many of Ashley-Cooper's other works contain reference to 18th Century cricket and a detailed index of these
items would be of great interest.
H.T.WAGHORN: Cricket Scores, Notes, &c. From 1730-1773.
Written as reported in the different newspapers. Published by William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh & London, 1899. xiv+126p. Occasionally comes onto the second-hand market at £50+.
The Dawn of Cricket.
Compiled by H.T.Waghorn, published by The Marylebone Cricket Club, and edited by Lord Harris. There is a 3 page Preface by Lord Harris. 204p.
Reprinted in exact facsimile by J.W.McKenzie, Ewell, 2005, with a new two page introduction by John Goulstone. 204p. £21.
An Index to Waghorn. By Martin Wilson, published by Bodyline Books, London, 2005, limited to 150 copies, x+62p. £25. This covers both the above books and has 16 pages of corrections and notes on these two volumes.
H.T.Waghorn - A Singular Portrait. By Irving Rosenwater, and published by Christopher Saunders, Newnham-on-Severn, 2005, in a limited edition of 125 copies. 59p.
G.B.BUCKLEY: Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket.
By G.B.Buckley. A collection of 1,000 new cricket notices from 1697 to 1800 A.D. Arranged in chronological order. Published by Cotterell & Co., Birmingham, 1935. x+261p.
Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket.By G.B.Buckley. A collection of further cricket notices from 1709 to 1837 arranged in chronological order. Published by Cotterell & Co., Birmingham, 1937. x+250p.
These books are hard to find and when they do come to the market cost about £250 each.
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