[barrysloate]

Thanks Carlton. One thing that surprises me about the poster is Peck and Snyder did not put their name on it. The Haney Book of Reference was edited by Henry Chadwick from 1866 to 1868. Peck and Snyder purchased it in 1869, undoubtedly to use as a vehicle to promote their products. The 1869 copy I found it in also had a 16 page section in the back that exclusively advertised P & S sporting goods equipment. The poster was miraculously still affixed to the inside front cover, exactly as it was at the time of issue. There were tears throughout at almost half the folds, and a conservator had to put it back together. But the colors are pristine since they never saw the light of day for 130 years.

There is a variant to this poster in John Kashmanian's book Baseball Treasures. It is not as elaborate as mine but does have the name of the store printed on it. I assume it is later than this one, perhaps 1870-72. But as I said, the poster was made to hang in a store, and how they could leave their own name off of it makes no sense. A mystery that I can not solve.

Forgot to answer a part of your question: I got it about ten years ago when I got a call from an antique dealer in upstate New York who said he found two Haney Guides as well as some other miscellaneous material. He mentioned one was missing the covers, but I figured they were rare enough and he offered to send them to me. Just as we were finishing our conversation he said: "Oh by the way, there is a color poster inside the cover of one of them." It kind of slipped by me but by the next day I sensed that it might be something special. When I actually saw it I was of course amazed. As it turned out it was pretty close to a free throw in. Those things don't happen very often.