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P[IERRE] BARCELLON, paumier
Règles et principes de paume. Paris: chez l'auteur, de l'imprimerie de Delance, An VIII [1800]. 12° (14.2 x 8.5cm). Collation: [*2] A-I6 K4 L2; iv, 118, [2]p. (Heavy dampstain at lower margins occasionally touching on text, title repaired at outer margin, small blue ink spot on two final leaves.) Later speckled calf by F. Bedford, double gilt fillet, spine gilt with red morocco lettering-pieces, top edge gilt, others uncut (joints and corners lightly rubbed). Provenance: Julian Marshall (bookplate, front blank inscribed: 'Uncut. Ex[tremely] rare. I know only one other uncut copy. J.M.' Exhibited: The Queen's Club, 2004, no. 306.
FIRST EDITION. OF GREAT RARITY. Pierre Barcellon came from a family of tennis professionals. His father, Guillaume, was paumier to Louis XV. His younger brother, Joseph, and his brother-in-law, Raymond Masson, were among the greatest players of the age, the former earning the nickname of "L'Anglais" because he so often played in England. Just as Etienne Loys's portrait of the smiling but powerfully-built Guillaume has assured his fame, so Pierre's place in tennis history owes much to this "little book consisting only of 118 pages ... and measuring only 5¾ x 3½in., but containing more solid and practical matter than any previous treatise on the subject" (Julian Marshall, Annals of Tennis, 1878, p. 153).
Although the laws of tennis had first been published by Forbet in 1599, to be "slavishly copied" by Hulpeau in 1632, they subsequently appeared only in compendiums such as La Maison Academique and L'Academie des Jeux in a simplified and even incorrect form. De Garsault had not cited the rules, though he referred to them; de Manevieux's treatise covered methods of play but not points of law. Barcellon's citation and interpretation of the rules are remarkable for standing the test of time, Marshall himself finding no more than one point which "cannot be sustained" or "accepted in any Tennis-court of this day" (see p. 154).
Added to the rules are Barcellon's "principles" which expound in concise form and with great insight the method and style of play. He emphasises that "la paume n'est pas un jeu de force, mais bien d'adresse, de souplesse, de jugement et de combinaison" ("tennis is not a game of force, but very much one of skill, suppleness, judgement and co-ordination"). He describes the backhand, "l'arrière-main", as the tennis player's finest attitude, "c'est celle d'un gladiateur et une des plus belles poses que l'on puisse choisir pour peindre la force et l'action" ("it is that of a gladiator and one of the most striking images a painter might choose to portray style and power"), one perfectly demonstrated, he says, by his brother Joseph. To avoid the exagerrated arc or circle made by the swinging arm, it is essential to use the wrist. "Il faut éloigner le bras en arrière du corps sans le lever beaucoup, il doit faire mouvoir et diriger le poignet, pour ainsi dire, comme s'il n'y tenoit que par une charnière; alors la raquette a tout son abatage et c'est cet abatage qui chasse la balle avec vitesse; voila ce qu'on appelle jouer du poignet ("The arm should be extended behind the body but not raised very much; in moving, it should, so to speak, direct the wrist, as though it was only attached to it by a hinge. The racket then receives its full leverage and it is this leverage which imparts speed to the ball; this is what is termed wrist-play").
Barcellon then carefully explains the use of the cut-stroke, with the racket held obliquely, and the value of thinking ahead and moving in advance to the spot where an opponent is likely to place the ball. How to wrong foot one's opponent, and how to think of placement rather than simply playing the ball back, are other key points. A series of equally valid observations on the four-handed game brings the "principles" to an end.
Unfortunately, revolutionary times were not propitious for tennis. Napoleon did restore the Fontainebleau court in 1812, besides renovating the court at the Palais de Compiègne, but many of the famous encounters of the day took place in England. Whereas there had been more than a hundred courts in Paris in 1657, the number had dwindled to barely a dozen, Barcellon mentioning only one, the newly-built court of the Comte d'Artois (like many of its predecessors, this too became a theatre). The market for his book must therefore have been limited, probably so that it was essentially a private publication, copies being sold principally to his own pupils, among whom was the great Edmond Barre. There was no subsequent edition in French. An English edition by Sir Richard Hamilton (from which the above translations are taken) appeared in 1987. For a past owner of this copy, with the eminence of Marshall, to comment on its rarity well over a hundred years ago is an indication of how very rarer it must be considered today. NO COPY IS RECORDED IN THE BIBLIOTHèQUE NATIONALE, AND IT IS A WORK WHICH MAY BE TRULY DESCRIBED AS THE BLACK TULIP FOR TENNIS COLLECTORS. Garnett p. 292; Henderson p. 188.
Règles et principes de paume. Paris: chez l'auteur, de l'imprimerie de Delance, An VIII [1800]. 12° (14.2 x 8.5cm). Collation: [*
FIRST EDITION. OF GREAT RARITY. Pierre Barcellon came from a family of tennis professionals. His father, Guillaume, was paumier to Louis XV. His younger brother, Joseph, and his brother-in-law, Raymond Masson, were among the greatest players of the age, the former earning the nickname of "L'Anglais" because he so often played in England. Just as Etienne Loys's portrait of the smiling but powerfully-built Guillaume has assured his fame, so Pierre's place in tennis history owes much to this "little book consisting only of 118 pages ... and measuring only 5¾ x 3½in., but containing more solid and practical matter than any previous treatise on the subject" (Julian Marshall, Annals of Tennis, 1878, p. 153).
Although the laws of tennis had first been published by Forbet in 1599, to be "slavishly copied" by Hulpeau in 1632, they subsequently appeared only in compendiums such as La Maison Academique and L'Academie des Jeux in a simplified and even incorrect form. De Garsault had not cited the rules, though he referred to them; de Manevieux's treatise covered methods of play but not points of law. Barcellon's citation and interpretation of the rules are remarkable for standing the test of time, Marshall himself finding no more than one point which "cannot be sustained" or "accepted in any Tennis-court of this day" (see p. 154).
Added to the rules are Barcellon's "principles" which expound in concise form and with great insight the method and style of play. He emphasises that "la paume n'est pas un jeu de force, mais bien d'adresse, de souplesse, de jugement et de combinaison" ("tennis is not a game of force, but very much one of skill, suppleness, judgement and co-ordination"). He describes the backhand, "l'arrière-main", as the tennis player's finest attitude, "c'est celle d'un gladiateur et une des plus belles poses que l'on puisse choisir pour peindre la force et l'action" ("it is that of a gladiator and one of the most striking images a painter might choose to portray style and power"), one perfectly demonstrated, he says, by his brother Joseph. To avoid the exagerrated arc or circle made by the swinging arm, it is essential to use the wrist. "Il faut éloigner le bras en arrière du corps sans le lever beaucoup, il doit faire mouvoir et diriger le poignet, pour ainsi dire, comme s'il n'y tenoit que par une charnière; alors la raquette a tout son abatage et c'est cet abatage qui chasse la balle avec vitesse; voila ce qu'on appelle jouer du poignet ("The arm should be extended behind the body but not raised very much; in moving, it should, so to speak, direct the wrist, as though it was only attached to it by a hinge. The racket then receives its full leverage and it is this leverage which imparts speed to the ball; this is what is termed wrist-play").
Barcellon then carefully explains the use of the cut-stroke, with the racket held obliquely, and the value of thinking ahead and moving in advance to the spot where an opponent is likely to place the ball. How to wrong foot one's opponent, and how to think of placement rather than simply playing the ball back, are other key points. A series of equally valid observations on the four-handed game brings the "principles" to an end.
Unfortunately, revolutionary times were not propitious for tennis. Napoleon did restore the Fontainebleau court in 1812, besides renovating the court at the Palais de Compiègne, but many of the famous encounters of the day took place in England. Whereas there had been more than a hundred courts in Paris in 1657, the number had dwindled to barely a dozen, Barcellon mentioning only one, the newly-built court of the Comte d'Artois (like many of its predecessors, this too became a theatre). The market for his book must therefore have been limited, probably so that it was essentially a private publication, copies being sold principally to his own pupils, among whom was the great Edmond Barre. There was no subsequent edition in French. An English edition by Sir Richard Hamilton (from which the above translations are taken) appeared in 1987. For a past owner of this copy, with the eminence of Marshall, to comment on its rarity well over a hundred years ago is an indication of how very rarer it must be considered today. NO COPY IS RECORDED IN THE BIBLIOTHèQUE NATIONALE, AND IT IS A WORK WHICH MAY BE TRULY DESCRIBED AS THE BLACK TULIP FOR TENNIS COLLECTORS. Garnett p. 292; Henderson p. 188.
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