The Willis Faber Book of Tennis & Rackets

4to., 368 pages, colour and numerous black & white illustrations, original blue cloth, spine lettered in silver. A fine clean copy in a VG+ dustwrapper lightly sunned on spine but unaffecting the lettering (as is common with this work). The complete history and story of the two sports tennis and rackets. A detailed study into the origins of lawn tennis and squash, with commentary on the development of the sports over the decades. Includes reference to every tennis and rackets club in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and France at the time of writing, with a short history of each club. There is also an invaluable statisical section listing the winners of the main events in both games since records began. LORD ABERDARE, 4th Baron, was a Conservative minister in the early 1970s and a fine athlete who excelled in racket sports. Lord Aberdare was a lifelong devotee of real tennis, winning the British amateur singles championship four times between 1953 and 1957, and the amateur doubles championship four times between 1954 and 1961. He served as president of the Tennis and Rackets Association from 1972 until 2004. During his tenure there was a significant expansion in both real tennis and rackets, and a number of new courts were built while several others were re-opened. His book is the most comprehensive modern reference for these sports.…