The Battle of Base-Ball. Including "How I Became a Big-League Pitcher" by Christy Mathewson

8vo. 377 pages. Frontispiece with tissue guard, black and white photographic illustrations. Publisher's decorated beige cloth. Provenance: L. R. Burnett (signature dated 5-20-[19]12 on front free endpaper). An exceedingly scarce history of baseball from the early 20th century. Includes a chapter from Christy "Big Six" Mathewson and a section on Spalding's rules. No copies in retail at present, and none in auction records. The author was a magazine writer and journalist for the New York Herald. He wrote a number of books relating to photography and to aviation, including 'First Book of Photography: A Primer of Theory and Prize Winners' Book of Model Airplanes' (Claudy photographed several important aeronautical events such as Alexander Graham Bell's tetrahedral kite experiments and the Wright Flyer Army Trials at Fort Myer, Virginia). Claudy wrote many science fiction stories for The American Boy magazine during the early 1930s, from which four novelizations were made. From 1939 to 1941, he wrote for DC Comics. Includes chapters on batting, running, offensive game planning, the pitcher-catcher battery, fielding, defensive strategy, umpiring, drills (titled "Battlefield and Arms"), major league regulations and the chapter by Christy Mathewson nicknamed "Big Six", "the Christian Gentleman", "Matty", and "the Gentleman's Hurler" the American Major League right-handed pitcher, who played 17 seasons with the New York Giants. Also includes a section on A. G. Spalding's Simplified Rules of the game. Ghost shelf label on spine and old number stamp (ex-library) on preliminaries, light general wear, spine slightly faded, several leaves at center of volume crimped at top and with short associated tear.…