Amazing hardbound reference volume of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, with the interior volumes beginning March 25, 1865 and ending March 24, 1866. Founded in 1855 and running through 1922, Leslie's Newspaper was a literary and news magazine that featured elaborately reproduced illustrations based on sketches and photos of American life.
A fascinating group of newspapers are collected here, with illustrations that depict some of the more important events of the era. Amidst many illustrations from the end of the Civil War is a cover illustration depicting Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865, followed by illustrations of his funeral and the assassination of John Wilkes Booth.
From the standpoint of baseball, the first woodcut image we discovered is featured in the August 16, 1865 issue, which includes an image of the championship match between the Brooklyn Atlantics and New York Mutuals at Elysian Fields in Hoboken.
The second and most important woodcut, however, appears in the centerfold of the November 4 issue. One of the most important of all baseball woodcuts, this example features the image of a game in progress, along with images of players from all the New York teams (including Mort Rogers, better known today for the beautiful series of scorecards he produced). In the top center of the image is an illustration of James Creighton, who passed away on the playing field in 1862. On the right is the image of a bearded man, unidentified but long believed to be Henry Chadwick. This woodcut appears in outstanding condition, save for one small piece of paper loss at the bottom right edge.
The volume is encased in a hard book cover, which has been well-worn over the years, particularly at the spine and edges. The cover has done an outstanding job protecting the interior pages, which are mostly in excellent condition save for some dog-ears, folds, tiny edge tears and the like, the result of years of readers flipping the pages. Overall condition, however, particularly of the important woodcut images, is outstanding. A beautiful bound volume containing a year's worth of issues of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, including one of the most important of all baseball woodcuts.