WISDEN,

 “The bible of cricket”

In 1864 John Wisden, an English cricketer who had played 187 first class matches, founded the eponymous Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.  It has been published every year since, making it the longest running continuously published sporting handbook in the world. The Almanack includes scorecards and synopses of every first class game played in England the previous summer, as well as summaries of  international, minor counties, second XI, university, school and club cricket. There are many notable, and highly collectable, editions  including (but not limited to)  the 1901 edition in which Notes by the Editor was added allowing Sydney Pardon to denounce “throwing and dubious bowling”, the 1916 edition which included the obituaries of W.G. Grace and Victor Trumper (generally considered to be the rarest of the 20th Century editions) and the 1941 edition, which is the rarest of those published in the war years, as in order to comply with wartime paper rationing only 800 hardback copies were produced.

Originally published in paperback, the first hardback edition (brown cloth, lettered in gilt) was produced in 1896; in 1938 the paperbacks became linen cloth, and the distinctive yellow covers were introduced, along with the iconic woodcut, by Eric Ravilious, showing two Victorian gentlemen playing the game, which remained until 2003 when a photograph of a modern cricketer was added. Since the 1930s, its unofficial subtitle has been “the bible of cricket” (a phrase coined by Evelyn Waugh's brother, Alec, in a review for the London Mercury), and a full set is the Holy Grail for cricket collectors.

Please scroll down to see our stock of Wisden Almanacks