xxi, 284 pp. With 9 plates from paintings, engravings, etchings, etc., including 2 duotone lithographs, 1 color plan of the golf course over St. Andrew's Links and frontispiece, with tissue-guards; plus numerous wood engravings and facsimiles throughout the text; title page with decorative gilt margins; decorative initials. Illustrations by Clark Stanton, C.A. Doyle and G. Aikman. 9½x7¼, original gilt-decorated green cloth, rebacked with original spine laid down, lettered in gilt, brown endpapers, top edge gilt. First Trade Edition.
"Widely regarded as one of the most significant, as well as best produced, early books on the history of golf, Clark's work is a compilation of the earliest literature on the game. In assembling the book, Clark, a well-known Edinburgh printer, collected early press reports, biographical sketches, significant acts of Parliament, municipal records, diaries, and extracts from the minutes of the earliest golf clubs. The book also contains obituaries of...Alan Robertson and Tom Morris, Jr." - D&J C12760; D&M 900; Murdoch 128. Bookplate of A. Howe.
Condition:
Spine darkened, ends and corners a bit bumped, scattered light insect wear; some wear to hinges with glue repairs, half-title laid in loose, occasional faint foxing and short tears to page edges; still very good overall. An important and scarce first edition.