Books & Works on Paper, to include the Boxing Collection of Brian and Debbie Watkins, 24th Aug, 2023 10:00

The American Fistiana: Containing a History of Prize Fighting in the United States, with All the Principal Battles of the Last Forty Years, and a Full and Precise Account of the Great $10,000 Match between Sullivan and Hyer, [Hartley 1843], title page and 30pp., some creasing, original printed wrappers, rear panel chipped, lacking spine, H. Johnson, New York, 1849.

***”American prizefighting came of age in a sequence of major fights in the decade before the Civil War. The first of these, on 7 February 1849, matched the two most prominent fighters in America for a purse of $10,000. Yankee Sullivan and Tom Hyer were both affiliated with the New York demimonde of street gangs and political factions; Sullivan was IrishAmerican, Hyer native born. The hoopla surrounding the fight, won by Hyer, had much to do with the anti-immigrant nativist sentiment that pervaded American society in the antebellum years. The volume shown here, published prior to the fight as a publicity vehicle, derived its name from the British annual Fistiana (1841-1868). It is of most interest, perhaps, for its "Chronological List of the Principal Prize Fights in the United States" (pp. 17-18). The list includes one fight held in the 1810s, five in the 1820s, and some 15 in the 1830s.” - George Rugg (Curator, Americana), Hesburgh Libraries of Notre Dame.

£800-1,200

Books & Works on Paper, to include the Boxing Collection of Brian and Debbie Watkins, 24th Aug, 2023 10:00

312 Tunney (Gene) Tunney (Gene)

Arms for Living, first edition, inscribed ‘To W. E. Chilton, Jr., Gene Tunney, 9/29/41’ to front endpaper, staining to endpapers, original cloth, worn, lacking dust jacket, New York, 1941 § with a duplicate inscribed ‘for Ellen E. Kuehn’, unclipped dust jacket, chipped, short tears, strengthened with tape verso § A Man Must Fight, first edition, inscription by Willard Lewis to front pastedown, cloth, dust jacket faded, two tears to front panel, 1932 § with a typewritten letter signed discussing ‘Boxiana’, one further volume by Tunney, and a creased press print signed by Jack Dempsey (6)

£100-200

313 Wrestling.- Parkyns (Sir Thomas, of Bunny Park) Wrestling.Parkyns (Sir Thomas, of Bunny Park)

Progymnasmata: The Inn-Play: or, Cornish-Hugg Wrestler…, second edition ‘with large Additions’, [ESTC T139004], signature of John Loveday to front endpaper (dated 1733-34) and his annotations to text, title page with upper border and small portion near publisher removed (not affecting text), woodcut illustrations, some spotting and offsetting, Cambridge style binding in contemporary calf, Parkyns’ baronet crest in gilt to boards, rubbed, small 4to, Will. Ayscough and Timothy Goodwin, Nottingham, 1714; with another copy, third edition, [ESTC T139003], later frontispiece, woodcut plates, some spotting and staining throughout, bookplates of Harry Arthur James and Sir Robert Jones, 19th century half morocco, loss to foot of spine, for Tho. Weekes, 1727;

(2)

***Sir Thomas Parkyns, 2nd Baronet, known as "Luctator" or the "Wrestling Baronet", was an architect and an enthusiastic patron of wrestling.

John Loveday was an English antiquarian known for his descriptions of English country houses.

£600-800