WISDEN, John (1826-1884). The Cricketer's Almanack for 1865. London: John Wisden, 1865.

Second appearance of Wisden, in the original wrappers. At 160pp., the second edition was significantly larger than the first. Apart from covering Oxford and Cambridge scores from 1827, it largely restricted itself to results for the 1864 season in matches played by M.C.C. and the counties; most importantly, following a short memoir of George Parr, it provided scores for the 19 matches which his team played in Australia, January to April 1864. E.M. Grace, elder brother of W.G. and Fred Grace, was on this tour and played a single-wicket match against six Australians, described thus on p.151: '[Mr Grace] going first to the wickets, remained there the rest of the day, hitting away in brilliant style to the tune of 106, and carrying his bat out into the bargain. His play during this afternoon was eagerly watched, and some of his hits were enthusiastically cheered. The bowling was repeatedly changed, but the "great gun" was invulnerable.' An acknowledgment of W.H. Crockford as printer appears at the foot of the final page, while the rear wrappers carry adverts for John Wisden's sporting goods.

Octavo (164 x106mm). [4], 160pp. (Faint crease to upper corner of quire G, otherwise a fresh, clean copy with K6-8 and L6-8 unopened). Original printed buff wrappers (rebacked, with very small loss to left-hand printed border on upper wrapper, some faint dust-soiling mainly confined to margins of wrappers).

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