Report Of The Special Committee Of The New York Yacht Club.

Relative To Certain Charges Made By The Earl Of Dunraven Concerning The Recent Match For The America's Cup.

First Edition. Royal 8vo., pp. 556. Bound in contemporary half green morocco gilt, marbled sides, raised bands, gilt lettering and fillets in compartments, top edge gilt, stamp–signed by Stikeman & Co. Printed for the Club by Douglas Taylor & Co. (New York), 1896.

An almost imperceptible indentation to the spine of the binding, corners gently rubbed, otherwise a fine copy.

This copy has notable provenance, containing the bookplate of David B. Ogden (1895-1923) to the front free endpaper. "David B. Ogden had practiced half a century at the bar of New York City, where he had been born. Associated in legal partnership with John E. Parsons and Edward M. Shepard, he was counsel for important business enterprises, director in a number of companies, member of the Trinity Vestry and counsel for the Trinity Corporation. He was a man of many friends; of varied interests and pleasing conversation; a wide reader in whose life and thought art, literature and history always had their place." (The Century Association Archives Foundation).

This work provides an account of claims made by the Earl of Dunraven in relation to the America's Cup races on September 7, 10 and 12, 1895, and published in The London Field of November 9, 1895. The Earl of Dunraven claimed that "after being measured for the cup races in September last, the yacht Defender was surreptitiously loaded so as to sink her four inches deeper in the water; that she sailed in that condition on the first day's race, and that immediately after that race the ballast so loaded was secretly removed, so that when measured the next day (Sunday) no discrepancy was found to exist between the two measurements. While Lord Dunraven intimates that the owners of the yacht were not personally cognizant of the fraud, the charge is none the less explicit." (The Earl of Dunraven's evidence to the Committee, 1895; New York Yacht Club Committee Cables, 1895 )

The Earl of Dunraven's claims were ultimately judged to be false after an extensive investigation. This work includes the testimonies of many notable figures in the New York Yachting community including, but not limited to; Nathaniel G. Herreshoff, Captain Henry C. Haff, J. Pierpont Morgan, A. T. Mahan, C. Oliver Iselin and W. C. Whitney. (New York Yacht Club Committee Cables, 1895.)

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