[Rarebooks] FS: "Casey at the Bat" Harvard CLASS OF 1885

[Charles Agvent]

(THAYER, Ernest L.). CLASS OF 1885. Harvard College Secretary's Report 
No. VII. Twenty-Fifth Anniversary. Cambridge: Printed for the Class. The 
University Press, 1910. First Edition. Publisher's gilt-lettered red 
cloth (6-1/2" x 9-1/2"); 311 pages. A member of the class, Ernest L. 
Thayer, was the author of the most famous poem about baseball: "Casey at 
the Bat." This book, which appeared 2 years before the first hardcover 
edition of the poem, contains photos of Thayer as well as a brief 
description of his life, including his authorship of the poem. There is 
also a two-page description of “Casey at the Bat”: "Eighty-five takes a 
family pride in Ernest L. Thayer's authorship of the classic, 'Casey at 
the Bat.' It has been recited either by its author or by his baseball 
understudy, Boyden, at every formal dinner of the Class since it became 
known to the world." "Casey" first appeared in a San Francisco newspaper 
in 1888 as a featured piece of humorous doggerel. Its ascension to 
immortal status was due primarily to actor and toastmaster DeWolf 
Hopper, who began reciting it at dinners and other functions, as well as 
on the vaudeville stage. This copy has the ownership signature dated 
1910 on the front endpaper of another classmate, physicist who founded 
the American Physical Society, Arthur Gordon Webster. Webster committed 
suicide in 1923, following the closure of the mathematics department at 
Clark University, where he taught, after it was rumored that the physics 
department would be the next to be closed. His class was in a nearby 
room waiting for him to appear when he shot himself in the head. Near 
Fine. (#021497)        $150

https://www.charlesagvent.com/pages/books/021497/ernest-l-thayer/class-of-1885-harvard-college-secretarys-report-no-vii-twenty-fifth-anniversary

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