contributes to...'Twenty Five Cricket Stories'. i) Tom, Dick and Harry, ii) The Wire-Pullers, iii) The Lost Bowlers and iv) How Pillingshoot Scored de WODEHOUSE, P.G. [Pelham Grenville] (1881-1975)

George Newnes Ltd., London, n.d. [1909]. FIRST (AND ONLY) EDITION, possibly withdrawn. Contains four Wodehouse stories, three of which are published for the first time in book form (How Pillingshoot Scored had already appeared in Tales of St.Austins, 1903). These Newnes-period Wodehouse stories were collected in this particularly scarce omnibus and the present example offered is the publisher's own file copy. We note only one other copy for sale (also through ourselves) and none have ever appeared at auction. The bibliographer McIlvaine mentions the title but does not provide a description. A companion volume Twenty Five Football Stories was also mooted by Newnes the following year, but again this has proved virtually impossible to locate. The sheer paucity of copies suggests that both these sporting volumes were printed in small numbers or may have been withdrawn. Whatever the circumstances, this remains an exceptionally rare book. 208pp. Small octavo. Bound in publisher's illustrated card covers stamped by publisher as the 'File' copy, later linen back, housed in collector's folding box. Some rubbing and wear to joints else very good indeed. McIlvaine E126/127.