[Rarebooks] FS: Beadle’s Dime Book of Croquet

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, Ephemera & Photographs]

Beadle’s Dime Book of Croquet.

Published in New York by Beadle and Company in 1866.

“A complete guide to the practice of the game. Giving all the rules 
proposed by various American writers on the game”.

Although croquet-like games had been around since at least the 14th 
century, it was in 1860s England that the modern game erupted in a fit 
of Victorian exuberance. By the end of the decade it had spread to 
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States, and 
was said to be especially popular because it could be played by both 
sexes. Unfortunately for the Lords (and Ladies) of the Hoop, the 1870s 
saw croquet eclipsed by another new-fangled Victorian sport, lawn 
tennis, and such sporty clubs as Wimbledon turned their croquet courts 
into tennis courts, for better or worse. Here in America, despite the 
encouragement provided by such books as this one, croquet would soon 
succumb to another young upstart sport, baseball, which is a pity, as it 
would be entertaining today to see professional croquet players get 
10-year, $500 million dollar contracts, and watch fans squabble about 
the designated roqueter rule.

The Beadle Brothers, Erastus & Irwin, were pioneers in printing pulp 
fiction and other works for the masses, and had worked in various 
printing and publishing jobs before setting up their own stereotyping 
business in 1850. In 1860 they brought out their first, indeed THE 
first, “dime novel”, a thriller titled “Indian Wife of the White Hunter” 
by Ann S. Stephens, and the publishing industry has never been the same 
since. The brothers soon expanded their line of novels with series of 
dime school texts, and handy hand-books such as this one, which was 
based on a title published in England by Routledge a few years earlier.

Paper covers. 4”x6.5”, 28 pages, line illustrated plate opposite the 
title page and line illustrations and diagrams in the text. Front cover 
with light wear and soil, rear cover with a slice across the lower 
corner and some damage at the bottom edge, which extends into the last 3 
leaves. Pages with some foxing and minor soil. Creased down the middle. 
[49766]  $350

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