Changing Base; or What Edward Rice Learnt at School

Scarce early printing; first published in 1868. 12mo. 282pp. Four plates. Publisher's green cloth with gilt title and baseball decorations on the spine. A little mottling on the boards, modest wear at the spine ends and corners, an attractive, very good copy. Although Shannon refers to this as "The first known novel incorporating baseball activity" (p.39), we have handled one earlier (*Uncle Nat; or, The Good Time Which George and Frank Had, Trapping, Fishing, Camping Out, etc.* by Alfred Oldfellow. New York, 1865). Thus this is the second novel to feature a substantial amount of baseball activity (two and a half chapters, with an extended description of a schoolboy game), and the first to feature an obvious reference to the game in the title. The author, son of the famous orator Edward Everett and cousin of the author Edward Everett Hale, also served in Congress. An attractive copy.