Early..and I mean *EARLY* baseball relics/memorabilia/collectibles available?

mouschi · #1 03-19-2020, 10:09 AM

What kind of memorabilia/relics/collectibles are available for super early baseball? I'm talking perhaps 1840s knickerbockers or similar ... I'd love to see what is out there or what i should be looking for!

aelefson · #2 03-19-2020, 10:21 AM

Great topic! I was trying to organize my early collection recently. Chapbooks are one option. Here are a few.

Alan

mouschi · #3 03-19-2020, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aelefson

Great topic! I was trying to organize my early collection recently. Chapbooks are one option. Here are a few.

Alan

what are these and from what year?

aelefson · #4 03-19-2020, 10:34 AM

They range in years. They were books meant for kids. Some people date the Babcock books to the 1840s but I believe a lot are from the 1850s or 1860s. On the larger ones, they have a small woodcut on the cover showing a kid with a bat. On the smaller ones I scanned, they have a page in the middle talking about a bat and ball. There are a lot of options out there (I have another 10 or so).

Alan

Edited to add that there are some that date to the 1830s but without a copyright/date page (which they almost never have) you have to go by old advertisements. Also, there was a find of one of the Babcock books in the early 2000s that was actually sold on this forum (I think something like 75.00 each book). I have paid anywhere from 2.00 to 100.00 for these. At one time hobby auctions had them for a lot more.

bgar3 · #5 03-19-2020, 11:52 AM

Suggest you get Block’s book, Baseball before we knew it, excellent book with hugh listing of publications involving baseball up to about 1860 or so if I recall.

Leon · #6 03-19-2020, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mouschi

What kind of memorabilia/relics/collectibles are available for super early baseball? I'm talking perhaps 1840s knickerbockers or similar ... I'd love to see what is out there or what i should be looking for!

Define super early? Personally I feel anything before the civil war is early. Before 1860 is probably super early? or....?
This one is close but probably not quite. It's my earliest thing. I think I need some new acquisitions, the same old stuff keeps getting shown.

ruth-gehrig · #7 03-19-2020, 03:17 PM

Good one Leon

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