Chadwick's woodcut collection

[barrysloate]

George- that 1860 Excelsiors woodcut is among the most important baseball woodcuts in existence. And of course, the mammoth plate salt print photograph of that image resides in the Spalding Collection. The good news is it's still in the NYPL.

[bgar3]

Barry, thanks for the more info, are you sure we can’t get you to do a brief article on the auction?
George, yes the color is hand done on this, I was most interested in your opinion on that they really were woodcuts. There is also hand done color on the 1873 catalogue illustrations. Red Stockings attached for example.
I would love a list or copy of the article when you are done. Great research and subject.

[barrysloate]

Bruce- I didn't attend the auction, and had someone bid on my behalf. So I don't think I have enough meat for a full article. However, if you have specific questions I might be able to answer them.

I lent my catalog to a hobby friend a number of years ago, and unfortunately he passed away before he had a chance to return it. So all I can offer is what I can remember.

[bgar3]

Thanks Barry. I have a copy of what I think are a majority, if not all the baseball related items, just not the whole catalogue. One of the items is especially intriguing, actually most are, but it is described as the diary of Harry Wright’s son, covering baseball etc.. Not to mention the 1859 hand drawn scorecard among others.
I once got a lot of Chadwick, non badseball related books that I believe came from that sale. The most interesting one is Botts, The Great Rebellion, the first book Chadwick ever edited, with a number of annotations and a few further editorial changes. The author was his in law.

[Leon]

Nice conversation about these. Thanks for sharing the info, guys.