Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction September 2024
Considered the holy grail of all hockey publications, and the first official book written featuring the sport, its history and rules, Hockey: Canada's Royal Winter Game was released in 1899 and was written by the Montreal Shamrocks star player Arthur Farrell (1877-1909). Farrell - who served as one of the editors for the Spalding Athletic Library collection, also wrote additional early hockey publications including Ice Hockey and Ice Polo Guide of 1901-1904 and How to Play Ice Hockey, published in 1907. We are honoured to offer an original restored copy with an interesting and important provenance.
Originally gifted to noted hockey writer Bill Fitsell approx. 20 years ago by an elderly lady who had the book in her possession for a lengthy period according to Bill's wife, Fitsell was contacted by the Prime Minister's office during Stephen Harper's tenure, as a copy of the book in lower condition owned by noted writer and historian Red Fisher was going to be presented to Harper for digitisation by the LAC (Library and Archives Canada) - who also restored the book. Following the LAC's work, the book was donated to Concordia University, and it is now kept in their archives. While that copy was not ideal for photo and presentation purposes before restoration, Fitsell was asked to lend his copy for this, and upon doing so, the Prime Ministers office had the book restored - presumably by LAC - before returning it to Fitsell. The restoration process was apparently not done to restore to like-new condition, but to keep the book as original as possible and basically repair the volume to a stable and displayable condition. As such, pieces of the original cover are missing, with the first and last pages affixed to the front and back covers upside down (we are unsure why it was restored in this fashion), with tape residue to the back cover. All 122 pages are intact, and while somewhat fragile, the book can be opened to any page, with the interior pages supple showing only minimal wear.
Regarding the contents, they include:
Index.
List of Illustrations and Sketches of Teams.
The Victorias of Montreal in 1881. (photograph)
I. Dedication
II. Introduction
III. The Royal Game of Hockey
The Arena Rink in Montreal. (photograph)
"Ye gude olde days." (drawing)
Chapter I.
Chapter II. Hockey as a Game.
The Shamrock Hockey Club of Montreal. (photograph)
The Victoria Hockey Club of Montreal. (photograph)
A Dream of the Future. (drawing)
The Montreal Hockey Club of Montreal (photograph)
Chapter III.
The Victoria Hockey Club of Winnipeg. (photograph)
Chapter IV. The Science of Hockey.
The Quebec Hockey Club of Quebec. (photograph)
The Ottawa, Jr. Hockey Club of Ottawa. (photograph)
The Ottawa Hockey Club of Ottawa. (photograph)
The Queen's College Hockey Club of Kingston. (photograph)
The Wanderers Hockey Club of Halifax. (photograph)
The Toronto Varsity Hockey Club of Toronto. (photograph)
Chapter V. Laws of the Game (Rules of the CAHL, OHA and Amateur Hockey League of New York).
One of hockey collecting's greatest and rarest prizes, and an indescribably important and historic work, this museum-quality book will certainly elevate even the world's greatest accumulation of the sport's treasures to the zenith of known hockey memorabilia. We should also note that most sources cite only four known copies of this exceedingly rare book, which includes the copy mentioned that is currently housed in the archives at Concordia University.
The founding president of the Society for International Hockey Research in 1991, Bill Fitsell was a columnist for The Kingston Whig-Standard from 1961 to 1993, and was involved with the International Hockey Hall of Fame from 1969 to 2005, serving as its curator and historian. Attending his first National Hockey League game on January 18, 1936, when the Toronto Maple Leafs battled the Boston Bruins at Maple Leaf Gardens, Fitsell later joined the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1942, and served aboard HMCS Outremont, where the ship protected the western end of the English Channel from enemy submarines during the Normandy landings in 1944. Publishing five books during his writing career, Fitsell received numerous honours including induction into the Lindsay District Sports Hall of Fame in 1995, and the builder category of the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. The archives of Queen's University at Kingston keeps fonds of Fitsell's historical collections, research and writing on ice hockey.
By clicking this button, you will IMMEDIATELY bid the amount selected.
By clicking this button, you will submit this amount as your MAXIMUM (absentee) bid. The auction software will place bids on your behalf up to this amount only as it is bid against competitively by other bidder(s).