One of the World's Rarest Cricket Books Acquired by British Library
Arlott's inscription and earlier bookplates
As the Ashes cricket series between England and Australia continues to entertain, an anonymous donor has safeguarded the public future of one of the world's rarest cricket books.
As Fine Books reported back in April, Cricket. A Collection of All the Grand Matches of Cricket played in England within Twenty Years, viz. from 1771 to 1791 by William Epps was offered by Peter Harrington for £225,000 at Firsts: London’s Rare Book Fair. As well as marking the dawn of cricket statistics, the copy belonged to iconic cricket commentator and book collector John Arlott.
On hearing that it was currently not a part of any institutional collection, the anonymous cricket enthusiast contacted Peter Harrington and contributed funds to enable it to be acquired by the British Library. The book is now safely a part of the Printed Heritage Collections at the British Library which is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.
