vi, [2], 360 pp. 4 engraved diagram plates at rear. 7x5¼", period cloth-backed boards.

A compendium of sports from a pioneer of physical education. The first edition of this work was published in 1796 and contained a very early description of baseball, "englische Base-ball," the forerunner of American baseball. "Gutsmuths's documentation of the game is an important contribution to baseball history, because it is the strongest surviving evidence of an ancient family of European ball games that may have influenced the inception of baseball in England" (David Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, 2005, p 182).