The American Sportsman's Library is a series of 16 uniformly-bound volumes on sporting subjects, from an American perspective, published by the Macmillan Company (see Macmillan Publishers) in the period 1902-1905.[2] Caspar Whitney, the owner/editor of Outing magazine and a well-known outdoorsman and sporting journalist, edited the series. Authors, including Theodore Roosevelt (writing while President of the United States), were noted experts in their fields.
 Trade Edition Volume Cover | |
| Author | Various |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Macmillan Co. |
Publication date | 1902[1] |
M.L. Biscotti, in American Sporting Book Series (1994), states that "[t]he authors of these titles were a "Who's Who of American sportsmen of the era....Macmillan designed a premium series....The sixteen titles produced in this series represent that era's best sporting literature."
The trade edition of each volume was 7+7⁄8 by 5+1⁄2 inches (200 by 140 mm) with green cloth covers with gilt titles and decorations. The books cost $2 or $3 each, relatively high prices for the time (about $54 and $81 inflation-adjusted to 2016). They included extensive black-and-white illustrations from paintings or photographs. Macmillan also issued a "large paper" edition limited to one hundred numbered copies of each work. These were 9 by 6+1⁄4 inches (230 by 160 mm) and bound in three-quarter olive green (typically now faded to brown) leather. They cost $7.50 in 1902 (about $202 inflation-adjusted to 2016). A 1924 reprinting of the trade edition introduced dust jackets and a slightly reduced size of 7+1⁄2 by 5 inches (190 by 130 mm).[3]
Macmillan advertised advance notice of, but ultimately did not publish, four additional volumes. These include Skating, Hockey, and Kite Sailing; Baseball and Football; The Bear Family; and Cougar, Wildcat, Wolf, and Fox.[4]
Two useful series for comparison purposes are the slightly earlier British Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes and the later British Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes (Seeley, Service & Co.).[5] The Derrydale Press published a series of high-quality American sporting books in the late 1920s and 1930s that, to some extent, supplanted the American Sportsman's Library.
Whitney testified in a lawsuit against him that he earned a salary of $1,500 (about $39,000 inflation-adjusted to 2016) for editing the American Sportsman's Library.[6]
Volumes of the American Sportsman's Library
edit- Anderson, E.L. and P. Collier, Riding and Driving (1905)
- Brownell, L.W., Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist (1904)
- Busby, Hamilton, The Trotting and Pacing Horse in America (1904)
- Crowther, Samuel and A. Ruhl, Rowing and Track Athletics (1904)
- Graham, Joseph A., The Sporting Dog (1904)
- Henshall, James A., Bass, Pike, Perch and other Game Fishes of America (1903)
- Holder, Charles F., The Big Game Fishes of the United States (1903)
- Money, A.W. et al., Guns, Ammunition and Tackle (1904)[7]
- Paret, J.P. and W. H. Maddren, Lawn Tennis: Its Past, Present and Future, by J. Parmly Paret; to which is Added a Chapter on Lacrosse by William Harvey Maddren (1904)
- Roosevelt, Theodore et al., The Deer Family (1902)
- Sage, Dean et al., Salmon and Trout (1902)
- Sandys, Edwyn and T.S. Van Dyke, Upland Game Birds (1902)
- Sanford, L. C. et al., The Waterfowl Family (1903)
- Stephens, William P., American Yachting (1904)
- Trevathan, Charles E., The American Thoroughbred (1905)
- Whitney, Caspar et al., Musk Ox, Bison, Sheep, and Goat (1904)
References
edit- ^ Cambridge University Library (1903). University Library Bulletin. The Library.
- ^ Library of Congress. Card Section (1914). List of Series of Publications for which Cards are in Stock Method of Ordering by Series.
- ^ M.L. Biscotti, American Sporting Book Series (1994), pp. 77-78.
- ^ Publisher's advertisement following index to Guns, Ammunition, and Tackle.
- ^ The Lonsdale Library (Seeley, Service & Co.) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
- ^ N.Y. Times, May 2, 1907.
- ^ "Review of Guns, Ammunition and Tackle". California Review. 3 (6): 524. December 1904.