![EDOUARD FOURNIER [AND EUGENE CHAPUS]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2010/CSK/2010_CSK_05459_0167_000(edouard_fournier_and_eugene_chapus012531).jpg?w=1)
TENNIS AND RACQUETS
EDOUARD FOURNIER [AND EUGENE CHAPUS]
Details
EDOUARD FOURNIER [AND EUGENE CHAPUS]
Le Jeu de Paume son histoire et sa description. Paris: Didier, 1862. 4to (273 x 212mm), half-title and title printed in red and black, 14 albumen prints mounted on grey card and numbered as 16 plates. Original red cloth, front cover with gilt title surmounting a motif of crossed rackets and balls, title repeated on spine (small nick to back cover).
ONE OF THE GREAT HISTORIES OF THE GAME, the first tennis book published after Lukin's Treatise on Tennis (London, 1822) and the first to use photographic plates. Among them are photographs of Barre (seen above), Biboche and Edmund Tompkins, the exterior of the court at the Tuileries Gardens, and an intriguing form of outdoor tennis involving clusters of players on a wide area of grass. A good summary of the work is given by Noel and Clark (pp. 289-291) who say of Fournier's 'notice' or preface: 'nothing more valuable as a contribution to the history of tennis in early times has ever been written'. The 'Traité de la courte-Paume et de la Long-Paume' which follows is compiled by Chapus, though not attributed to him on the title-page. The contents are wide-ranging even including a poem by Bajot. FINE COPY OF A RARE BOOK that was intended for a small luxury market. There is also an edition of the same date in a smaller octavo format with only 6 plates. Garnett p. 293; Henderson p. 191.
Le Jeu de Paume son histoire et sa description. Paris: Didier, 1862. 4to (273 x 212mm), half-title and title printed in red and black, 14 albumen prints mounted on grey card and numbered as 16 plates. Original red cloth, front cover with gilt title surmounting a motif of crossed rackets and balls, title repeated on spine (small nick to back cover).
ONE OF THE GREAT HISTORIES OF THE GAME, the first tennis book published after Lukin's Treatise on Tennis (London, 1822) and the first to use photographic plates. Among them are photographs of Barre (seen above), Biboche and Edmund Tompkins, the exterior of the court at the Tuileries Gardens, and an intriguing form of outdoor tennis involving clusters of players on a wide area of grass. A good summary of the work is given by Noel and Clark (pp. 289-291) who say of Fournier's 'notice' or preface: 'nothing more valuable as a contribution to the history of tennis in early times has ever been written'. The 'Traité de la courte-Paume et de la Long-Paume' which follows is compiled by Chapus, though not attributed to him on the title-page. The contents are wide-ranging even including a poem by Bajot. FINE COPY OF A RARE BOOK that was intended for a small luxury market. There is also an edition of the same date in a smaller octavo format with only 6 plates. Garnett p. 293; Henderson p. 191.