Croquet

the long version

"The literature of croquet has long been of interest to scholars and collectors. This work attempts to document all the books and pamphlets devoted to the game from its early beginnings to the end of 1997. It is intended that a future volume will catalogue the periodical literature, other books and pamphlets, both of fiction and non-fiction, which refer to the game, and contributions to other media." "The present volume is divided into four parts. Part A records books and pamphlets about croquet whose existence has been verified or can safely be assumed, Part B records patents of inventions relating to the game, Part C lists other books and pamphlets not seen by the compiler whose existence is supported by good evidence, and Part D lists other patents related to the game not seen by the compiler. The subject works recorded in Part A receive full bibliographical descriptions together with historical and analytic notes. Those with exotic title pages are illustrated." "There are over one thousand entries, comprising 403 titles of specialist books and pamphlets, 493 subsequent editions and variants, and 158 patents. Most of the subject documents are in English, but the French, German, Italian, Swedish, Afrikaans, Chinese and Japanese languages are also represented."--Jacket.