An Immensely Charming Diminutive 1903 Golf Manual, "The Finest Copy Ever Offered of this Scarce and Fragile Book"

THE GORHAM GOLF BOOK.

(GOLF - EARLY MANUALS). (MINIATURE BOOKS).

(New York: The Gorham Manufacturing Co., 1903). 102 x 64 mm. (4 x 2 1/2"). 4 p.l., [9]-148 pp. FIRST EDITION. ONE OF 500 COPIES.

CHARMING PUBLISHER'S LIMP SUEDE, illustrated covers with a rotund golfer on front and a long-suffering caddy at rear, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. In a later(?) glassine wrapper. Housed in a very sturdy custom-made buckram folding box with inlaid marbled spine label. Color floral and foliate headpieces, tailpieces, and title page, and 16 DELIGHTFUL MOUNTED COLOR PLATES BY JOHN HASSALL. Front endpaper with the ownership inscription, "W. P. Rockwell, November 1905." Murdoch 888; Donovan & Murdoch 19030. Trivial smudges to the suede, but A NEARLY PRISTINE COPY of this delightful little book, an item that is simply never found this well preserved.

This is a diminutive golf manual with immense charm, and offered in the most immaculate condition possible. In a small-pocket format, the book provides the golfer with the game's rules, etiquette, technical terms, names of golf clubs and their various uses, a list of American champions since the organization of the United States Golf Association, and a roster of the "leading players in the United States." Accompanying the text are a group of quite charming colored plates, done by John Hassall (1868-1948), an active and celebrated watercolorist, poster designer, and illustrator from 1895 onwards. Houfe calls him "an original and versatile designer." As can be seen in the present volume, Hassall seems to have been influenced by "the flat colors and two-dimensional decorative quality of Japanese prints, which he adapts to his own work with thick outline and careful patterning." Whatever the influence, one can't help but smile when looking at his work. Hassall depicts golf costume through the ages here, including golfers in kilts, trousers, cloaks, knickers, and other attire; he also shows us a pair of disarmingly shabby young caddies, two women, and a boy incongruously dressed in Napoleonic greatcoat and tricorn hat. The most memorable thing about this item is its condition: as a book intended to be put in one's pocket, and as a volume that was never sturdy to begin with, there is absolutely no explanation for how our copy has survived to the present day in its remarkable state of preservation. When this copy (without its box) was sold in 2004 at PBA Galleries, the most prominent auction purveyor of golf books and equipment, the catalogue called it "the finest copy we have ever offered of this exceedingly scarce and fragile book." (ST20237)

Price: $3,500.00