Uncle Nat; or, The good time which George and Frank had, trapping, fishing, camping out, etc
New York: Leavitt & Allen Bros. 1870. Good. Item #26226
New York: Leavitt & Allen Bros., 1870. Second Edition. 12mo (17.5cm.); publisher's plum blind-embossed cloth, gilt-lettered spine; 224,[14](ads)pp.; frontispiece. Cloth quite scuffed and rubbed at extremities with exposure at corners and spine ends, front joint starting, spine rather toned and gilt entirely effaced, faint contemporary manuscript library inscription to front pastedown and very faint ghost of a spine label, several signatures sprung, textblock rather finger-soiled throughout. Overall a Good only copy of a rare and early contribution to baseball literature.
Possibly unrecorded second edition of Oldfellow's children's book, first published in 1865, making it one of the earliest references in fiction to baseball. Chapter five opens with a "Famous Game of Ball," the children playing in a large field that was "a first-rate place for their game, the ground being level and hard, and had evidently been used a good deal." For reference, Anton Grobani's "Guide to Baseball Literature" opens the chapter on baseball fiction in 1868, with William Everett's "Changing Base."
No copies of this edition in OCLC as of April, 2023.
Price: $200.00