[DANCE, James].

CRICKET. AN HEROIC POEM: ILLUSTRATED WITH THE CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS OF SCRIBLERUS MAXIMUS. TO WHICH IS ADDED AN EPILOGUE, CALL'D, BUCKS HAVE AT YE ALL. SPOKEN BY MR KING, AT THE THEATRE ROYAL IN DUBLIN, IN THE CHARACTER OF RANGER, IN THE SUSPICIOUS HUSBAND. BY JAMES LOVE, COMEDIAN.
London, printed for the Author, 1770.
8vo. (4)+30pp. Rebound in quarter calf. A tall, untrimmed item. Good condition. Contemporary owner's signature, dated 1774 on the title-page.
Fourth edition of one of the earliest books on cricket. Dedicated to the Members of the Cricket Club at Richmond, in Surrey. The first edition was published in July 1744. A little-known second edition was published in 1745, having been advertised in the Daily Advertiser of July 4th, 1745. Its next publication was in Poems On Several Occasions, (Edinburgh, 1754). A reprint edited by F.S. Ashley-Cooper appeared in 1922. This poem describes the match between Kent and England, played at the Artillery-Ground, June 18th, 1744. The match was won by Kent by one wicket, and is noteworthy as being the earliest of which the individual scores have been preserved. It is the first match recorded in Scores and Biographies, although the date was then thought to be 1746. The correct date was discovered to be 1744 by F.S. Ashley-Cooper and this was recorded in Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game for 24th November, 1898. Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, 1970: '...the first great match of which the full score has been preserved, Kent v. All England on the Artillery ground (a less important match was played a few days earlier, whose score also survives). The match, won by Kent, was described in full by James Dance, alias Love, in his Cricket: a [sic] Heroic Poem.' James Love, [born James Dance, 1722-1774], was educated at Merchant Taylor's School. Padwick, 6445.
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