Department of Rare Books & Special Collections
TENNIS
an exhibition celebrating the
WILLIAM D. HAGGARD III
TENNIS COLLECTION
Mezzanine Exhibition Gallery
Thomas Cooper Library
University of South Carolina
May-August 2005
Contents
Preface............................................................................................................................2
1. The Earliest Book about Tennis .................................................................................3
2. Tennis as a Royal Game ............................................................................................5
3. The Art of the Paumier-Racquetier ..........................................................................6
4. Enlightenment, Revolution, and Tennis: Diderot and David ....................................7
5. Court Tennis in the 19th Century...............................................................................9
6. The Beginnings of Lawn Tennis ..............................................................................11
7. From Recreation to Competition ............................................................................14
8. Some 20th Century Court Tennis Rarities ...............................................................15
9. Stars and Icons of Modern Lawn Tennis .................................................................17
10. The Survival of Court Tennis as an International Sport ........................................18
11. Billy Haggard: Sportsman and Bookman ..............................................................20
Selected References .....................................................................................................23
Preface
The William D. Haggard III Collection brings to Thomas Cooper Library its first
major collection of rare books about sports history. Billy Haggard, who died
early last year, was a champion equestrian and all-round sportsman from Aiken,
SC. Aiken boasts one of only ten courts in the United States designed for
traditional tennis ("court tennis" or "real tennis"), a sport at which Mr. Haggard
became an outstanding competitor. He was also a renowned collector of rare
books, especially books related to the sports that he enjoyed. Several years ago,
he loaned some of his court tennis books for an exhibition here, Real Tennis or Le
Jeu de Paume, curated by Roger Mortimer, and he visited the library several
times. Last year, his tennis collection came to the University, through the support
of some of Mr. Haggard’s friends and with a matching grant from the Lucy
Hampton Bostick Trust.
This exhibition tells the story of tennis over the past seven centuries. The earlier
cases illustrate the development of tennis from its medieval origins in cloister and
royal palace, through its central role in the Renaissance and pre-Revolutionary
France. The second half of the exhibition follows the reshaping of tennis in
France, England, and America in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as
court tennis stubbornly survived alongside its upstart younger cousin lawn tennis,
and as lawn tennis mutated from country-house recreation to suburban club sport,
professional career, the rise of media stardom, and a new democratization. The
long history of tennis is a remarkable example of how sports reflect, and adapt to,
wider social and cultural developments.
Highpoints of the exhibit include the very first book about tennis, Antonio
Scaino’s Trattato del givoco della palla, published in Italy in 1555 (case 1),
eighteenth-century engravings of courts and equipment from Enlightenment
French tennis books (cases 3 and 4), and inscribed or limited editions of later
titles. Except in case 2, the books on exhibit are almost all drawn from the
Haggard Collection, which has been expanded since its original transfer with
books about lawn tennis, tennis engravings, and tennis memorabilia, donated by
Janet Haggard Harkins. The inscribed copy of Pierre’s Book in case 10 was
kindly donated by Mr. Julian Peabody. The racket and balls on display have been
loaned through Dr. Harry Shealy and Mark Devine of the Aiken Tennis Club. In
case 9, the item descriptions have been contributed by my colleague, Jeffrey
Makala.
Patrick Scott,
Director of Special Collections
Case 1: THE EARLIEST BOOK ABOUT TENNIS
The Origins of Tennis
This illuminated medieval manuscript, ca. 1450, shows how the traditional ball game
played in monastic cloisters provided the model for the roofed gallery of the traditional
tennis court. The players wear a leather glove on the right hand, later replaced with a
scoop, bat, or racket. Reproduced in Gillmeister, Tennis, A Cultural History (1997),
from British Library MS. Harley 4375.
The First Book about Tennis, by Antonio Scaino
Scaino, Antonio, 1524-1612.
Tratto del Givoco della Palla.
Vinegia: Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, et fratelli, 1555. Modern red morocco, gilt.
–This is the first book written about tennis, published in Italian in 1555. Antonio Scaino,
an Italian priest, dedicated the book to his patron Alphone d’Este, Duke of Ferrara. The
books discusses five variant ball-games, including a form of soccer, but the treatment of
the rules and method of playing tennis is much the most detailed, and all Scaino’s
illustrations are of tennis.
Scaino’s Illustration of a Sixteenth-Century Tennis Court
Scaino, Antonio, 1524-1612.
Tratto del Givoco della Palla.
Vinegia: Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, et fratelli, 1555.
Facsimile reprint: Salerno: W. Casari, n.d. Half morocco, marbled boards, in slip-case.
–This facsmile is opened to show one of Scaino’s five engraved plates illustrating tennis
court lay-outs. Shown here is the plate of the royal tennis-court at the Louvre, in Paris,
showing a court with a line or cord near the mid-point, and a dedans penthouse, as in a
modern court. Inset is a small racket, in something near modern shape. The court at the
Louvre had been constructed for Henri II, to dimensions that the king himself paced out.
Scaino on Not Throwing Your Racket at Your Opponent
Scaino, Antonio, 1524-1612.
Scaino on Tennis: Tratto del Givoco della Palla.
Translated by W. W. Kershaw, with notes by P.A.Negretti.
London: Strangeways Press for C. B. Gabriel, 1951. No. 213 of 250 copies, signed by
Negretti. Original cloth.
–This was the first English translation of Scaino’s work, opened at Scaino’s discussion of
good manners on the tennis court, showing the close relation between the evolution of the
sport and the Renaissance ideals of deportment.
Tennis and the London Merchants: A Fifteenth-Century Tennis Court
Morgan, Roger, M.D.
Tudor Tennis, A Miscellany.
Oxford: Ironbark/Ronaldson Publications, 2001. Full red morocco in jacket. Inscribed by
the publisher to "My good friend Billy."
–One of the most interesting recent discoveries about early British tennis concerns its
relation to the London trade guilds or livery companies. The plat shown here, dating
from ca. 1612, shows a tennnis court on property then owned by the Clothworkers’
Company, but previously the site of the Ironmongers’ Hall. During their tenure, between
1461 and 1535, the Ironmongers are known to have regularly sold tennis balls in large
quantity; the accounts indicate that many of the purchasers were livery members–London
merchants and their apprentices. This court, open to the sky, with wooden fence-type
walls, and a stone floor, was subsequently leased to individuals and stayed active till the
mid-seventeenth century.
A Renaissance Court Still in Use
The Royal Tennis Court, Falkland Palace, Fife, Scotland.
N.p.: n.p., n.d.
–The open-air court at Falkland Palace, was completed for James V of Scotland in 1539;
the court is still in use, managed since the 1960's by a specially-formed club.
The First Picture of a Tennis Net
In the sixteenth century, a version of tennis developed in which the court was divided by
a drooping rope or line. This water-colour sketch, ca. 1600, by a German student who
had studied in Italy shows students playing with rackets across a net in a covered tennis
court. Reproduced in Gillmeister, Tennis, A Cultural History (1997), from the student’s
notebook in a private collection.
A College Tennis Court from Renaissance Germany
In the early seventeenth-century the best-known German ballhaus or covered tennis court
was at the Collegium Illustre in Tubingen. This painting, again from a student’s personal
sketchbook, ca. 1598, shows spectators strolling on the court in debate, while the game is
in progress behind them. Reproduced in Gillmeister, Tennis, A Cultural History (1997),
from the student’s notebook in the State Library at Tubingen.
A Guide to Playing Traditional or Court Tennis
Danzig, Allison, 1898-1987.
The Royal & Ancient Game of Tennis.
Philadelphia: United States Court Tennis Association and the United States Court Tennis,
1997.
–This illustrated history and guide is based on an article first published in the Cornell
Alumni News in 1974.
Case 2: TENNIS AS A ROYAL GAME
"Tennis balls, my liege": The French Dauphin’s sneer and Henry V’s reply
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.
Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories, and tragedies. Published according to
the true originall copies. The Second Impression.
London: Printed by Tho. Cotes, for Robert Allot, and are to be sold at his shop at the
signe of Blacke Beare in Pauls Church-yard, 1632. Bookplate of Sir William Nigel
Gresley. Later calf.
–During the Hundred Years War between the English and the French, in which the
English kings claimed sovereignty over much of northern and western France, the French
crown prince sent the English king a gift of tennis balls, mocking his youth. Henry V ’s
response uses several specialized tennis terms (set, hazard, court, chase), indicating the
developed state of the game, if not in Henry V’s time, certainly in Shakespeare’s. Henry
made good his threat at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, but a hundred years later, in
1522, King Henry VIII utilized tennis in international diplomacy, partnering the Emperor
Charles V against the Prince of Orange and the Marquis of Brandenburg in eleven games
during the Emperor’s state visit to London.
King James VI & I advises his son to play "the caitch or tennise"
James I, King of England [and VI of Scotland], 1566-1625.
"Basilicon Doron, or His Majesties Instructions to His Dearest Sonne, Henry the Prince,"
in The workes of the most high and mightie prince, Iames, by the grace of God, king of
Great Britaine, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c.
London, Printed by Robert Barker and Iohn Bill, printers to the Kings Most Excellent
Maiestie. Anno 1616-20. First edition, second issue. Later calf.
–James wrote this book of advice on the proper education for Renaissance prince in 1598,
when his eldest son Prince Henry was only four, including tennis among the "exercises of
the bodie most commendable," "such honest games and pastimes, as may further abilitie
and maintaine health."
King Charles II plays tennis, and loses weight
Pepys, Samuel, 1633-1703.
Memoirs of Samuel Pepys . . . : comprising his diary from 1659 to 1669, deciphered by
the Rev. John Smith . . . from the original short- hand ms. in the Pepysian Library;
and a selection from his private correspondence edited by Richard, Lord Braybrooke.
2 vols. London: Henry Colburn, 1825. First edition. Contemporary sprinkled calf.
–While court tennis was frowned on by the Puritans, the restoration of the Stuart
monarchy in 1660 led to its revival. The diarist Samuel Pepys (who recorded his
comments in shorthand code, first deciphered for this edition) was a sharp observer of
royal vanity. In 1664, he noted that "to see how the King’s play was extolled, without
any cause at all, was a very loathsome sight, though sometimes, indeed, he did play very
well," and here in 1667, he noted how the King weighed himself before and after each
game.
Case 3: THE ART OF THE PAUMIER-RAQUETIER
Tennis in Eighteenth-Century France, I
De Garsault, Francois Alexandre Pierre, 1673-1778.
L’Art du Paumier-raquetier et de la Paume.
S.l.: s.n., 1767. Custom modern red morocco gilt.
–The most detailed eighteenth-century account of tennis, and of the craftsmanship that
went into making rackets and balls, is De Garsault’s account, originally written for
Diderot’s Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers
(see also case 4). Garsault’s essay and important engraved plates were separately
published in 1767 (shown here), in a second French edition in 1775, and in a German
translation in 1778. Garsault, a member of the French Academy, was primarily known as
a naturalist.
A Modern Court Tennis Racket
Made by Gray’s of Cambridge. Loaned for this exhibit, courtesy of Dr. Harry Shealy and
Mark Devine, Aiken Tennis Club.
Tennis in Eighteenth-Century France, II
De Garsault, Francois Alexandre Pierre, 1673-1778,
The Art of the Tennis-Racket-Maker and of Tennis.
Translated by Catherine W. Leftwich.
S.l.: privately printed for Christopher B. Gabriel and Members of the Royal Tennis Court,
1938.
No. 14 of 200 copies, signed by Gabriel. Original cloth.
–The vignette at the top of this plate shows a game in progress in a dedans court, one of
two earlier tennis court layouts, and the one that provided the model for modern court
tennis. Two spectators are watching the game from the dedans penthouse.
Tennis in Eighteenth-Century France, III
De Garsault, Francois Alexandre Pierre, 1673-1778.
The Art of the Tennis-Racket-Maker and of Tennis.
Translated by Catherine W. Leftwich.
Baltimore, MD: Racquet Sports Information Service, 1977. No. 7 of 750 copies.
Original cloth, in slip case. Inscribed by Mars: "To Bill Haggard with all best wishes."
–This reprint of the 1938 English edition was as a fund-raiser for the International Lawn
Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport Casino, RI. In his new introduction, George Mars points
out that, in her 1938 translation of Garsault’s recipe for painting for tennis court walls
(mainly oxblood and lamp-black), Miss Leftwich silently bowdlerized "a bucket of urine"
to "a bucket of wine." Shown here is Garsault’s detailed account of the stages by which
tennis balls were made.
The Stages of Making a Tennis Ball
Shown (clockwise) are the core; the strips of cloth that are tied round it with twine to
build resilience; a ball after the cloth has been added; a ball cover into which the built-up
ball will be sewn; and a finished ball. The last two items, a used ball, and a worn ball
cover, show why court tennis balls must be reshaped, and sometimes remade, after each
match. A supply of some six dozen balls is needed every match. Till recently, ball
covers were white, necessitating regular repainting of the court walls with black paint to
give visibility. Loaned for this exhibit, courtesy of Dr. Harry Shealy and Mark Devine,
Aiken Tennis Club.
Case 4: ENLIGHTENMENT, REVOLUTION, & TENNIS
Tennis in Diderot’s Encyclopedie, I
Diderot, Denis, 1713-1784, and Alembert, Jean Le Rond d', 1717-1783.
Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une
société de gens de lettres.
Paris [etc.]: Briasson [etc.] 1751-65. Avec Approbation et Privilege du Roy. Printing &
the Mind of Man, 200.
–Tennis was included in the first encyclopaedia, Denis Diderot’s great overview and
assemblage of the thought, science and technology of the French Enlightenment. Diderot
and his collaborator Jean d’Alembert engaged as contributors the leading scholars and
philosophes of the age. The work was a huge success, with sales rising from the original
thousand subscribers to four thousand. After the first seven volumes of the
seventeen-volume series, the work was banned by the French government and
condemned by the Pope. Later volumes were published clandestinely, and in the South
Carolina College set volumes 8-17 carry a Neufchastel imprint.
The Haggard Collection has two sets of the distinctive engraved plates from the
Encyclopédie that dealt with tennis (le jeu de paume). This first set, like the plates in the
South Carolina College copy, is from the earlier, full-sized issue, and has been loosely
stitched and preserved in a custom quarter-morocco box. The plate shown here, a
section view of a tennis court with an adjoining billiard hall, indicates the height of
building needed.
Tennis in Diderot’s Encyclopedie, II
Diderot, Denis, and Alembert, Jean Le Rond d'.
Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.
Paris [etc.]: Briasson [etc.] 1751-65.
–The Haggard Collection’s second set of tennis plates from the Encyclopédie are in the
sunsequent smaller format, and have been bound as a separate slim volume. The vignette
shown here illustrates the alternative layout of an eighteenth-century tennis court, the jeu
de Paume quarré, with a penthouse only across one end.
Tennis and the French Revolution
Jacques-Louis David, 1748-1825.
La Serment du Jeu de Paume
Reproduced from the engraving by Jazet, 1822.
–France’s violent transition from the ancien regime that had nurtured tennis (le jeu de
paume) to the anti-aristocratic revolution began, appropriately enough, with the take-over
of a tennis court. In June 1789, the following a month-long deadlock in the
States-General over constitutional reform at the royal palace of Versailles, the frustrated
Third Estate (the commons), which had been locked out from the formal meeting-place
by King Louis XVI, declared itself a National Assembly, took over the royal tennis-court,
and on June 20th took an oath (serment) not to disperse till their demands were met.
Three weeks later, on July 14th, followed the mob attack on the royal prison, the Bastille.
A Preliminary Sketch for David’s La Serment du Jeu de Paume
Jacques-Louis David, 1748-1825.
Versailles Sketch-book, ff. 33v, 34 r.
Reproduced from Brookner, Jacques-Louis David (1980).
–David had planned a great heroic oil-painting, to measure 35 feet by 26, which remained
unfinished. This sketch shows the simple, almost domestic scale of the court that would
be overwhelmed by the epic scale of the Revolution. Apart from a brief interlude in the
mid-nineteenth-century, the Revolution ended tennis at Versailles, with the tennis court
itself becoming a political shrine to liberté, egalité, fraternité.
Case 5: COURT TENNIS IN THE 19TH CENTURY
A Guide to Tennis in Napoleon’s France
Barcellon, Pierre.
Rules and Principles of Tennis.
Translated by Sir Richard Hamilton, Bt. Foreword by Lord Aberdare.
Oxford : Ironbark/Ronaldson Publications, 1987. Original cloth, in jacket. Inscribed by
Hamilton "To Bill Haggard , in remembrance of the happy games we had at Moreton
Morell."
–Barcellon, son of the royal paumier under Louis Quinze and himself a professional,
published his Régles et principes de paume in 1800. Shown here are his comments on
the changing economics of tennis, as royal patronage replaced by a complex interplay of
tennis professionals, court owners, rentiers, challenges, and betting. The court at
Moreton Morrell, Warwickshire, built a a private court by an American in 1905, has
survived to become an independent club.
A French Tennis Champion of the Early Nineteenth Century
Bromley, William, 1769-1842.
Barre.
Mezzotint engraving. S.l.: s.n., [1849]. Donated by Janet Haggard Harkins.
–J. Edmond Barre (1822-1873), son of a tennis professional in Grenoble and Paris, first
came to notice as a tennis player in the late 1820's, when the restored French royal court
revived the game. Barre made his living from tennis contests, both in France and Britain,
and in 1855 became royal paumier (tennis professional) to the Emperor Napoleon III.
His career was only ended by the Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris, leaving
him to die impoverished.
The First Book on Tennis in English, 1822
[Lukin, Robert].
A Treatise on Tennis, by a Member of the Tennis Club.
London: Rodwell and Martin, 1822.
Facsimile reprint, with introduction by Michael Wooldridge, Oxford: Ronaldson
Publications, 1991. No. 89 of 100 copies, in original cloth.
–In nineteenth-century England, tennis, like cricket and other sports, developed as a club
sport where upper-class amateurs and the professionals who managed the proprietary and
club courts competed together with mutual respect. Lukin was secretary of the James
Street Court in the Haymarket, built originally in 1675, but by the 1820's the only London
tennis court still open (though the Prince Regent briefly revived tennis at Hampton Court
Palace in 1818). In the passage displayed here, Lukin argues the superiority of tennis
over its chief contemporary rival, cricket, as cricket’s equal in physical demand and its
superior in intellectual strategy.
Court Tennis in Early Nineteenth-Century Britain
Games with the Ball –Tennis: the Court at Lord’s
Chromolithograph. London: Groom, Wilkinson, n.d.
Donated by Janet Haggard Harkins.
–"Lord’s" is the home ground, and club-house, for the Marylebone Cricket Club, the
governing body for the sport. At the request of club members, a tennis court was built
there, opening in 1839, and soon became the venue for major championship and
exhibition games.
The Revival of French Tennis
Fournier, Edouard, 1819-1880.
Le Jeu de Paume, Son Histoire & Sa Description.
Paris: Didier, 1862. Original red cloth, gilt, with tipped-in photographs.
–Fournier’s book, the product of tennis’s re-emergence in France during the Second
Empire, set the pattern for several subsequent books about the game: part description,
part guide to rules and strategy, but also solemnly aware of the history and past glories of
the sport, and seeking to document their survival with lists, and selected portraits, of the
champion players (both English and French) of the then-modern era. Only four North
American libraries are recorded as holding copies of the book: the Haggard Collection
makes Thomas Cooper Library the fifth.
A Pioneering British History of Tennis
Marshall, Julian, 1836-1903.
The Annals of Tennis.
London: "The Field" Office, 1878. Quarto, original brown pictorial cloth.
–Marshall’s book, originally contributed as articles to the sporting periodical The Field,
and issued both in folio and quarto format, remains the source from which many later
books on tennis history are taken. Lord Aberdare, himself author of two histories of
tennis, described it as the most scholarly book on the game, "comprehensive and
authoritative." Marshall, a musicologist and print collector, prints a remarkable array of
literary and historical references to tennis, as well as discussing the finer points of tennis
strategy. Intact copies are rare as the book was frequently kept in the dedans of tennis
courts for reference.
The Marginality of Court Tennis
Walsh, John Henry, 1810-1888.
Manual of British rural sports: comprising shooting, hunting, coursing, fishing,
hawking, racing, boating, pedestrianism, and the various rural games and amusements
of Great Britain.
4th ed., entirely rev., with additions. London: Routledge, Warnes, & Routledge, 1859.
Quarter-calf, in two volumes.
–Books solely devoted to tennis can give a misleading picture of its condition. This
popular overview of a wide range of country sports and athletic activity devotes less than
a column to tennis, concluding that "As the player cannot play without a regular
racket-court, . . .it is useless to attempt here more than a general idea of the game. It is
not much played except in London and some few of the large cities of the kingdom."
Court Tennis in Later Nineteenth-Century Britain
Diagram intended to Explain the Game of Tennis.
From a 19th Century Print in the possession of the Manchester Tennis and Racquet Club.
–The tennis court in the northern industrial city of Manchester opened in 1880, but the
print reproduced here (from a Manchester tennis championship program) appears to be
earlier in date.
Court Tennis in a Late Victorian Sporting Series
Heathcote, John Moyer, with contributions by A. Lyttelton and W.C. Marshall, et al.
Tennis; Lawn Tennis; Rackets; Fives.
The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes.
First edition. London: Longmans, Green, 1900. Original pictorial cloth.
–This standard late Victorian series, edited nominally by the Duke of Beaufort, includes
in this volume sections on both tennis and lawn tennis. Also shown is a copy of the
second edition, bound in red half-morocco, open at the frontispiece illustration of the
Royal Tennis Court at Hampton Court Palace, with open side-windows with curtains; the
windows were glassed in only in the late 1880's.
Case 6: THE BEGINNINGS OF LAWN TENNIS
The Beginnings of Lawn Tennis, Version I: Major Harry Gem
Gibbons, W. G.
Royal Leamington Spa: the Seeds of Lawn Tennis.
Coventry: Jones-Sands Publishing, 1986. Original wrappers.
–Many early tennis courts were open to the sky, and some version of the game had long
been played or improvised outdoors (as "field" or "long tennis"). Lord Arthur Hervey,
later Bishop of Bath and Wells, played some kind of tennis in his rectory garden in the
1840's. But the origins of the modern game, lawn tennis, which emerged quite suddenly
in the eighteen-seventies, are still disputed. This pamphlet argues that the game’s
originator was Major Harry Gem and his Spanish friend Augurio Perera, of Leamington
Spa, who drew up rules in 1872 for the game they and two local doctors played on the
lawn of a nearby hotel.
The Beginnings of Lawn Tennis, Version II: Major Wingfield
Aberdare, Morys George Lyndhurst Bruce, 4th Baron, 1919-.
The Story of Tennis.
London: Stanley Paul, 1959. Original cloth, in dustjacket.
–Much more generally accepted as the originator of the game is a retired cavalry officer,
Major Walter Wingfield (1833-1912). Wingfield first developed his new game, a
mixture of tennis and rackets designed to be played outdoors, for family and guests at his
Welsh country estate. However, in 1874, he published his rules (thus gaining copyright)
and also patented the game, under the Greek name Sphairistike, with equipment available
only from his chosen licensee. Neither the name, nor his monopoly, withstood the
game’s immediate popularity; within a year the Marylebone Cricket Club had altered his
patented court-layout, and by 1877 the All England Croquet Club added Lawn Tennis to
its name and took over rule-making. Shown here is an illustration of the distinctive
hour-glass court lay-out that Wingfield designed.
"The Inventor of Lawn Tennis"
"Major Walter Clopton Wingfield"
Reproduced from Whitman, Tennis, Origins and Mysteries (1932).
–Major Walter Wingfield (1833-1912), a retired cavalry officer and country gentleman,
who developed, patented, and licensed the commercial exploitation of the new game,
under the Greek name Sphairistike.
The Wingfield Story Enshrined as Sports History
British Sports and Sportsmen: Athletic Sports, Tennis, Rackets, and Other Ball Games.
2 vols. London: Sports & Sportsmen, [1930]. No. 23 of 1000 copies. Full red morocco,
gilt.
–While no author is given, the preface to this sumptuous volume thanks two noted tennis
historians, the third Lord Aberdare and the Frenchman Albert de Luze, for reading
proof, so this account of "Major Wingfield’s invention" may be taken as the version that
won.
The Advantages of Lawn Tennis
Hall, Henry, 1845-1920, ed.
The Tribune book of open-air sports, prepared by the New York Tribune with the aid of
acknowledged experts.
New York: Tribune Association, 1887. Original pictorial cloth. Gift of Matthew J.
Bruccoli, 2003.
–Lawn tennis was taken up in the United States within a year of Major Wingfield’s
patent. This early account by the New York Tribune stresses its status as "the game of
polite society, . . . for ladies and gentrlemen," by contrast with the raffish, aristocratic,
and professional taints of the older game. This book has special bibliographical
significance, as the first book printed from type set on Mergenthaler’s new Linotype
composing machine.
Two Early Cartoons of Lawn Tennis
"L’Embarras des Richesses,"
Punch, or the London Charivari (October 10, 1874), p. 148.
"A Lay of Lawn-Tennis,"
Punch, or the London Charivari (October 10, 1874), p. 148.
–The first book of rules for lawn tennis was published in December 1873, so the cartoons
reproduced here from the British humour weekly Punch are among the earliest images of
the game. They show that lawn tennis was already stigmatized as a summer recreation
for women, their would-be suitors, and the care-free young, in contrast to the masculine
ethos of court tennis. The second cartoon, hymning the energetic spring of youth and
warning of its inevitable loss as one ages, was illustrated by Edward Linley Sambourne
(1845-1910), who followed John Tenniel as Punch’s chief artist.
Women and Lawn Tennis
Frances E. Slaughter, ed.
The Sportswoman’s Library, vol. II.
Westminster: Constable; New York: Longmans, Green, 1898. Original cloth.
–The first women’s tennis championships were held as early as 1879, in Oxford and
Dublin (won by Miss M. Langrishe), and the first All England women’s championship
was held at Wimbledon in 1884 (won by Miss M. Watson).
Two Late Victorian Views of Lawn Tennis
Sir John Lavery, 1856-1941.
The Tennis Party.
Oil, 1885. City of Aberdeen Art Gallery.
Edward Frederick Brewtnall, 1846-1902.
Tea and Tennis.
Oil, c. 1890. Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum.
Both reproduced from Gillmeister, Tennis, A Cultural History (1997).
–The popularity of lawn tennis lay in part in the possibilities it provided, almost unique in
Victorian sport, for athletic competition involving both young men and young women.
Lavery’s painting, first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1887, depicts the new
phenomenon of "mixed doubles," under the careful eye of elderly spectators. Edward
Brewnall’s painting focuses instead on interaction off the court, as afternoon tea is
served.
Case 7: FROM RECREATION TO COMPETITION
The Championship Center Court at Wimbledon
Paret, Jahial Parmly, 1870- .
Lawn tennis, its past, present, and future, . . . which is added a chapter on lacrosse by
William Harvey Maddren.
New York, London: Macmillan, 1904. Rebound.
–The first "Wimbledon" was held by the newly-rechristened All-England Croquet and
Lawn Tennis Club in 1877, but even at the turn of the century, as this illustration shows,
attendance during "a famous championship match" seems modest.
Malcolm Whitman on Competitive Tennis
Patten, William, 1868-1936, ed.
The Book of sport.
New York: J. F Taylor & Co., 1903.
DeLuxe edition, volume II, copy 48 of 1500. Original boards, cloth spine.
–In his essay "The Theory of Play in Modern Lawn-Tennis," Malcolm D. Whitman, the
1898-1900 U.S. Open singles champion, quotes Emerson in commenting on the
American "nervous temperament," and its greater suitability for lawn tennis than
traditional court tennis (but cf. Case 10). Whitman’s thoughts on the nuances of
competitive tennis show how the sport was beginning to move from a nineteenth-century
casual pastime to the skilled professionalism of the early twentieth-century. To
complement his illustrations for this lavish two-volume set, the artist William Patten
commissioned accompanying essays by authorities in a variety of sports: Whitman had
been captain for America’s first Davis Cup team in 1900, while William A. Larned,
portrayed here, was the American captain two years later.
Tennis and the Great War
Williams, Paul Benjamin, 1887United States Lawn Tennis Association and the World War.
Preface by Major George Townsend Adee; supplement by George W. Grupp and John A.
Ferris.
New York: Robert Hamilton Company, 1921. Original blue cloth. William D. Haggard
III Tennis Collection and Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection.
–Like everything else, both court and lawn tennis were changed by World War I. This
book, recently transfered from the stacks, is an official record of the U.S.L.T.A. volunteer
ambulance units, and of the tennis club members players who served.
Bill Tilden on Lawn Tennis, 1921
Tilden, William Tatum, 2nd, 1893-1953.
The Art of Lawn Tennis.
Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing, 1921. Original cloth, in jacket.
–The American champion Bill Tilden was a late bloomer as a player, first coming to
prominence in his late twenties, when tournament play resumed after World War I, and
dominating the game through the 1920's. In 1950, a ballot of the nation’s sportswriters
voted him the outstanding athlete of the first half of the century.
LaCoste on Lawn Tennis, 1928
Lacoste, Jean René.
Lacoste on Tennis. . . . containing the Official Rules of the United States Lawn Tennis
Association.
With an introduction by William T. Tilden, 2nd.
New York: William Morrow & Company, 1928. Original green cloth,
–LaCoste, son of a wealthy French automobile magnate, first played in the U.S. with the
French Davis Cup team in 1923. Within four years, keeping careful notes on fiches
(index cards) of the weaknesses of each player he encountered, he had beaten Tilden
twice, in Paris for the French championship and at Forest Hills for the U.S. title.
Helen Wills on Lawn Tennis, 1929
Wills, Helen.
Tennis, with illustrations by the author.
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1929. Rebound.
–In the 20's, Wills had the same star quality in women’s tennis of Tilden and LaCoste in
men’s. The condition of this volume, taken from the Thomas Cooper stacks, is a sad
contrast with books in original condition, as preserved by private collectors such as
Billy Haggard.
Case 8: SOME 20th-CENTURY COURT TENNIS RARITIES
Eustace Miles on Tennis, 1903
Miles, Eustace H.
Racquets, Tennis & Squash.
New York: Appleton, 1903. Original cloth.
–By the time Miles published this book, he was or had been Amateur Champion at all
three of the sports he described. His book is important as giving the first serious attention
to American clubs, courts and players.
Fred Tompkins on Court Tennis, 1909
Tompkins, Frederick Charles.
Court Tennis; with Notes on Racquets & Squash-racquets.
Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1909. Original dark red cloth.
–Tompkins, a British professional who moved to the United States, wrote this simple
guide for the players he was teaching.
De Luze on Tennis, in Original Wrappers
De Luze, Albert.
La Magnifique Histoire du Jeu de Paume.
Bordeaux: Delmay; Paris: Brissard, 1933. Original printed wrappers, in custom box.
No. 922 of 1000 copies.
–De Luze’s study provides a century by century history of tennis in France, followed by
detailed coverage of individual tennis courts, champions, and professionals. It has twice
been translated into English, first by John Tierney, issued in a limited xerox edition (in
the Haggard collection), and subsequently by Sir Richard Hamilton, in printed form.
The Limited Presentation Issue of Noel and Clark
Noel, E. B. (Evan Baillie) and Clark, J. O. M. (James Oscar Max).
A History of Tennis.
2 vols. London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1924. No. 14 of 20 copies
on handmade paper, not for sale, out of 820 copies printed. Presentation binding: green
half morocco.
–Noel and Clark’s sumptuous volumes, while in the earlier sections a reworking of
Marshall’s history (1878), also provides a detailed account of court tennis over the fifty
years since Marshall was writing, with tournament records and valuable sketches of
leading players. The second volume includes a section on the literature of the game. The
Haggard Collection also has the standard issue of this work, on different paper, bound in
blue buckram. The work was republished in one stout volume in 1991.
Case 9: STARS AND ICONS OF MODERN LAWN TENNIS
Rod Laver
Bartlett, Michael and Bob Gillen, eds.
The Tennis book: a joyous cornucopia of the best that has been thought and written
about the game, by and about the masters themselves, and the finest writers ever to
have penned their devotion to it . . . .
New York: Arbor House, 1981.
– Rod Laver’s essay recounts the 1969 Australian Open, his first step towards winning
his second Grand Slam later that year. This anthology of modern tennis writing also
includes pieces by tennis greats such as Bill Tilden, Arthur Ashe, Bjorn Borg, and Billie
Jean King.
The Account of an Arthur Ashe/Clark Graebner Match
McPhee, John A.
Levels of the game.
New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1969.
Gift of Harry Hootman, 2002.
– McPhee, a longtime New Yorker contributor, writes of an Ashe/Graebner match at
Forest Hills and uses the event to write parallel biographies of two professional tennis
players with very different styles and backgrounds.
Bobby Riggs’s Autobiography
Riggs, Bobby, with George McGann.
Court hustler: an autobiography.
New York: J. P. Lippincott, 1973.
– Riggs writes here about beating women’s champion Margaret Court in a May 1973
match and also boasts about his upcoming match with Billie Jean King in September.
Perhaps fortunately for Riggs, the book went to press before the results of that famous
match could be recorded.
A Chris Evert Children’s Book
Burchard, S. H.
Sports star Chris Evert.
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976.
– This biography for children appeared after Evert’s string of victories in the mid-1970s,
including winning Wimbledon and the French Open at age 20 in 1974.
Behind the Scenes at the Women’s Tennis Tour
Wertheim, L. John.
Venus envy: a sensational season inside the women’s tennis tour.
New York: HarperCollins, 2001.
– An "inside" account of the 2000 women’s professional tennis season by a Sports
Illustrated writer and tennis columnist.
The Williams Sisters on Tennis Etiquette
Williams, Venus, 1980- , and Serena Williams, 1981- .
How to play tennis: learn to play the Williams sisters’ way.
New York: DK Publishing, 2004.
– In addition to teaching basic tennis skills, Venus and Serena Williams also include a
section called "Winning Ways" that includes their thoughts on sportsmanship, lifetime
fitness, and proper nutrition. For an earlier but similar warning against throwing the
racket on the court, cf. Scaino (case 1).
Case 10: THE SURVIVAL OF COURT TENNIS AS AN
INTERNATIONAL SPORT
Jay Gould: The First American World Champion, 1913
Covey, Neil, ed.,
Fred Covey, World Champion of Tennis.
Oxford: Ronaldson Publications, 1994. No. 10 of 60 library copies, full red morocco, in
jacket.
–Court tennis in the U.S. benefitted from the involvement of wealthy players. The first
American World Champion, Jay Gould, learned to play on a court at the Tuxedo Club
built by his father. The opponent he defeated, Fred Covey, was a professional, who,
apart from service in the Great War, spent his career at Lady Wentworth’s private court at
Crabbet Park, in Sussex. Covey re-gained the championship in 1920, defending it
successfully till his defeat by Etchebaster in 1928.
Allison Danzig on Tennis, 1930
Danzig, Allison, 1898-1987.
The Racquet Game.
New York: Macmillan, 1930. Original cloth.
–Danzig’s book, which opens with a long section on court tennis, is, as its frontispiece
illustration of the New York Racquets and Tennis Club suggests, particularly important
for covering the history of the game in the United States. For many years, Danzig
reported court tennis for the New York Times.
E. M. Baerlein on Tennis, 1933
Aberdare, Clarence Napier Bruce, 3rd Baron, 1885-1957, ed.
Rackets, Squash-Rackets, Tennis, Fives, & Badminton.
Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, vol. 16.
London: Seeley, Service [1933]. Original cloth, in dustjacket.
–Edgar M. Baerlein, who wrote the sections of this book on both tennis and rackets, held
the British amateur tennis championship from 1914 through to the 1930's. The editor,
who had represented Oxford at cricket, golf, rackets, and real tennis before the Great War
(when he was a captain in the Life Guards), was real tennis champion of the U.S. in 1930,
and of England in 1932 and 1938.
Like Father, Like Son
Aberdare, Morys George Lyndhurst Bruce, 4th Baron, 1919- .
The Story of Tennis.
London: Stanley Paul, 1959. Original cloth, in dustjacket. Inscribed by Aberdare "to
Mr. W. Haggard," 1967.
–Like his father, the fourth Lord Aberdare excelled in several sports (including winning a
silver racket for tennis at Oxford), and became the grand old man of British court tennis.
This short book provides a very readable synthesis of tennis history, both court tennis and
lawn tennis.
Court Tennis Down Under
Garnett, Michael P.
A History of Royal Tennis in Australia.
Victoria: Historical Publications, 1983. Full red leather in jacket, signed by the author.
–Court tennis was introduced into Australia in the 1870's by an Oxford-educated
Londoner, Samuel Smith Travers, who brought over as professional Thomas Stone, who
had been apprentice in Oxford. The first Australian tennis court, in Hobart, Tasmania,
opened in 1875, and a second club, the Royal Melbourne opened in 1882.
Pierre Etchebaster
Etchebaster, Pierre, 1893-1980.
Pierre's book; the game of court tennis.
Edited and introduced by George Plimpton.
Barre, Mass.: Barre, 1971. Original boards, cloth spine, pictorial jacket. Inscribed by
Etchebaster to Julian L. Peabody. Gift of Mr. Peabody to the Haggard Collection, 2004.
–Etchebaster, who had grown up playing the Basque game of Pelota, first gained the
World Open Tennis Championship in 1928, and held it through seven challenges till he
voluntarily withdrew in 1954, at the age of sixty. As professional at the New York
Racquet and Tennis Club, he was among the most influential players and teachers of the
twentieth century.
The Aiken Tennis Club and Etchebaster
Aberdare, Morys George Lyndhurst Bruce, Baron, 1919- .
The Willis Faber book of Tennis and Rackets.
London : Stanley Paul, 1980. Number 100 of a limited edition of 250 copies. Original
black morocco with gold lettering. Signed "Morys Aberdare."
–The Aiken Tennis Club, where Billy Haggard played, was built by William C. Whitney
in 1902 to cater for winter visitors. In the late 1930's, a group of members bought the
court and hired Etchebaster as professional. Though he soon returned to the New York
club, he continued to spend one month a year in Aiken, and coached three world
championship players from the Aiken club.
A Tennis Court awaiting Rescue
Shneerson, John.
Two Centuries of Real Tennis.
Oxford: Ironbark/Ronaldson Publications, 1997. No. 40 of 50 signed library copies, in
full red morocco, in jacket.
––Shneerson’s history presents a contrast between tennis in the seventeenth and twentieth
centuries, and describes the rescue and renovation in the 1990's of the Suffolk House
tennis court at Cheveley, near the racing centre at Newmarket.
Case 11: BILLY HAGGARD: SPORTSMAN & BOOKMAN
Pierre Etchebaster’s Book Inscribed to Billy Haggard
Etchebaster, Pierre, 1893-1980.
Pierre's book; the game of court tennis.
Edited and introduced by George Plimpton.
Barre, Mass.: Barre, 1971. Original boards, cloth spine, pictorial jacket. Inscribed: "To
Mr. W. Haggard. One of the most enthusiast of our beautiful game of "court tennis" and
in souvenir of the wonderful time we have had, and still enjoying playing together. With
all my cordial regard, Pierre Etchebaster. May 22-1972."
Billy Haggard and Pierre Etchebaster
Reproduced from the Aiken Standard, April 20, 1970.
The Rules of (Court ) Tennis
Racquet and Tennis Club, New York [et al.].
The Rules of Tennis in the United States.
N.p.: n.p., 1934. Original card wrappers, marked "W.D. Haggard."
–These rules, agreed by the clubs in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, brought U.S.
court tennis into conformity with the rules adopted in Britain and elsewhere in 1931.
The ownership inscription is presumably some years after publication. The pamphlet is
open to show some of the specialized terminology of modern court tennis, mixing
medieval French (joue, pique) and English terms (hazard) with modern slang (railroad).
Tickets from Three World Championship Challenges
Knox vs. Bostwick (1968), Bostwick vs. Willis (1969), Bostwick vs. Bostwick (1970).
Three Court Tennis Champions Pay Tribute to Billy Haggard
Program for World Tennis Championship 2nd Leg
Manchester Tennis and Racquet Club, May 16-20, 1969.
-- This program is inscribed to Mr. Haggard by three champions: Pierre Etchebaster,
undefeated World Court Tennis Champion from 1928 to 1954 ("To Mr. W. Haggard
lover of our wonderful game"), by the British open champion Frank Willis, professional
at the Manchester club ("Hope your challenge is accepted soon"), and by George H.
(Pete) Bostwick, Jr., the U.S. open and amateur champion and ("To the great Haggard–A
future champion"). In 1969, the world championship was open from the retirement of R.
Northrup Knox, who had defeated Bostwick’s previous challenge. This time, as the score
card shows, Bostwick won. Both Knox and Bostwick, like Billy Haggard, had ties to the
Aiken club.
The Manchester Tennis Court
One of a suite of photographs in the collection of European tennis courts. Billy Haggard
visited this court in 1969, for the British end of the championship contest between
Bostwick and Willis.
A Book-Collecting Hint from Arthur A. Houghton, Jr.
Memo, and pages from a bookdealer’s catalogue, pointing out a rebound copy of Scaino
for
sale in 1984 at $3500. Mr. Haggard had bought his first copy of Scaino when he visited
Oxford to play tennis in the 1950's, while in Britain to train for equestrian competition.
Another Renaissance Rarity among Sporting Books
Turberville, George, 1540?-1610?
The noble art of venerie or hvnting. Wherein is handled and set out the vertues, nature,
and properties of fivteene sundrie chaces, togither with the order and manner how to
hunt and kill euery one of them. . . .
London: Imprinted by Henry Bynneman, for Christopher Barker, 1575.
Nineteenth-century brown morocco, gilt. Loaned for this exhibit by Janet Haggard
Harkins.
–Just as Billy Haggard was an equestrian and all-round sportsman, as well as tennis
devotee, his book collecting encompassed several other areas of sport. Shown here is one
of the highpoints of his collection of books about hunting, Turbeville’s Noble Art of
Venerie, displayed alongside a copy of the 1611 second edition from the Thomas Cooper
Library’s special collections, showing how the later printer recut this wood block to
substitute a picture of King James I for the original picture of Queen Elizabeth.
The Irish Hunting Stories of Somerville and Ross
Somerville, E. Œ. (Edith Œnone), 1858-1949, and Ross, Martin, 1862-1915.
Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. London, New York, Bombay: Longmans, Green,
1899. Original pictorial cloth.
And: Further Experiences of an Irish R.M. London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta:
Longmans, Green, 1908. Original pictorial cloth. Signed by Somerville on title-page.
From the collection of Somerville and Ross recently donated by Janet Haggard Harkins.
--These books about the hunting adventures of a Resident Magistrate ("R.M.") in the west
of Ireland are among the best known works by two Irish cousins, Edith Somerville and
Violet Martin ("Martin Ross"). The sketches had originally appeared in the Badminton
Magazine, a British hunting journal. In the 1990's the series was televised on P.B.S.’s
Masterpiece Theatre.
References
Aberdare, Lord. The Story of Tennis. London: Stanley Paul, 1959.
_____________. The Willis Faber book of Tennis and Rackets. London : Stanley Paul,
1980.
Best, David. The Royal Tennis Court: A History of Tennis at Hampton Court
Palace. Foreword by H.R.H. the Earl of Wessex. Oxford:
Ironbark/Ronaldson Publications, 2002.
Brookner, Anita. Jacques-Louis David. New York: Harper & Row, 1980.
Butler, Lance St. J., and P. J. Wordie, eds. The Royal Game. Foreword by H.R.H.
Prince Edward. Kippen, Stirlingshire: Falkland Palace Real Tennis Club,
1989.
"The Early History of Real Tennis." From Real Tennis, from Targair:
http://www.real-tennis.com/history/main.html
Gillmeister, Heiner. Tennis, A Cultural History. London: Leicester University
Press, 1997.
–The Haggard collection has the specially bound issue, Oxford: Ronaldson,
n.d., no. 47 of 108 library copies.
Henderson, Robert W. Ball, Bat, and Bishop: the origin of ball games. New
York: Rockport, 1947.
"History of the Championships, Wimbledon". From The Wimbledon Experience:
http://www.wimbledon-experience.com/rotw/history.htm
"History of Lawn Tennis, 1873-1928." From Tennis at the Turn:
http://www.driftwaycollection.com/history_intro.html
"History of Tennis." From Britishtennis.com.
http://www.britishtennis.com/newtotennis/history/
"History of Tennis: Origins, Early Tennis Inventions, Great Beginnings" [page of
further links]. From Tennis.About.Com: http://tennis.about.com/od/history/
Limb, George. Melbourne to Myopia: Reflections on My Visits to the Real Tennis
Courts of the 20th Century. East Melbourne: George Limb, 2002.
Marshall, Julian. The annals of tennis. London: "The Field" Office, 1878.
Morgan, Roger. Tennis, the Development of the European Ball Game. Oxford:
Ironbark/Ronaldson Publications, 1995.
Mortimer, Roger. Real Tennis or Le Jeu de Paume: a Loan Exhibit from the Collection
of William D. Haggard III. Columbia, SC: Department of Rare Books & Special
Collections, Thomas Cooper Library, 1998.
Noel, E. B. , and J. O. M. Clark. A History of Tennis. Orig. 1924. Reprint, 1 vol. ,
London: Duckworth, 1991.
Potter, Jeremy. Tennis and Oxford. Foreword by Lord Aberdare. Oxford: Oxford
Unicorn Press, 1994.
Ronaldson, Chris. Tennis: A Cut above the Rest. Foreword by Lord Aberdare.
Oxford: Ironbark/Ronaldson Publications, 1985.
Vamplew, Wray, "Walter Clopton Wingfield (1833-1912), inventor of lawn
tennis," in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [2004]:
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/50313
Whitman, Malcolm D. Tennis Origins and Mysteries. With an Historical
Bibliography by Robert W. Henderson. New York: Derrydale Press, 1932.