Encyclopedia of Rural Sports - Delabere P. Blaine - Bauman Rare Books

Encyclopedia of Rural Sports

Delabere P. BLAINE

Item#: 82718 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Encyclopedia of Rural Sports

“THE ENAMOURED KNIGHT… WAS WONT TO WOO WITH HIS HAWK ON HIS HAND”: BLAINE’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RURAL SPORTS, 1840

BLAINE, Delabere P. An Encyclopedia of Rural Sports; or, a Complete Account, Historical, Practical, and Descriptive, of Hunting, Shooting, Fishing, Racing, and Other Field Sports and Athletic Amusements of the Present Day. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, et al., 1840. Thick octavo, original blind-stamped green cloth gilt.

First edition of this compendium of British rural sporting, with 600 wood-engraved illustrations.

Topics include a natural history of hunting dogs and other quadrupeds; histories of various forms of sporting, including racket sports, cricket, wrestling, skating, and archery; and extensive sections on horse racing, hunting, coursing, hawking, shooting, fishing, cock fighting, and boxing. Delabere Pritchett Blaine was a noted author on veterinary medicine, evidenced here in his extensive natural history and biology sections. With index. With publisher’s 32-page catalogue dated October 1846 bound at rear. Owner signature, dated 1937, of renowned animal breeder, sportswoman, and collector of sporting and equestrian books, Elisabeth Ireland Poe (“Miss Pansy”), last of the Hanna heirs and mistress of Georgia’s famed hunting lodge Pebble Hill, touted by Harper’s Magazine as “the best winter resort on three continents.” Bookbinder ticket; partially eradicated early owner signature.

Interior fine; light wear to cloth extremities and light toning to spine, gilt bright. A fine copy. Scarce.

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