SPORTING SPECTACLE: A CAVALCADE OF SPORT IN ENGLAND'S YESTERYEAR. By William Fawcett.

1939 1st edition. 8vo (142 x 223mm). Ppxvi,254. B/w photographs and illustrations. Foreword by J. Wentworth Day. Green cloth, spine titled in dark green.

A nostalgic and informing ramble through equestrian sports of the hundred or so years before the author's birth (1902). Chapters include: Part I, The Coach: Coaching in fact and fiction; In the days of Dickens; Tony Weller; Postboys and post-chaises; A handful of leather; Coaching days and ways. Part II, The Hunt: who was Jorrocks?; Wor canny James; Hunt uniforms and caps; A gentleman and his hounds; Hunting goodwill; Strange hunting incidents; D'ye ken John Peel; Some early sportswomen; Are women masters popular?; The Fox's Prophecy; Hunting, its devotees and the stage; Otters and otter hunting. Part III, The Horse and The Turf: In search of horse history; Equine roguery, likes and dislikes; The high-mettled racer; Racing relics and records; Fred Archer; All the king's horses; Innovation at Goodwood and artifice at Doncaster; 'Twas a hundred years ago; Ascot then - and now; 'The sweetest little horse'; Sledmere; At old Ebor; The unorthodox earl and the millionaire jockey; Racing and politics; Bench, bar and bit; Would 'Ormonde' win the Derby to-day?; Eccentricities of trainer and jockey; Famous racing colours; Superstitions and smart retorts; Racing rarities; The last (winning) post. Part IV, Sporting Reminiscences in Variety: Horseshoes and horse harness; Spurs and spurring; 'Bits of character'; The romance of the side-saddle; In the days of the beaux; Beau sabreur; In the days of Brigadier Gerard; Circus parade; peterborough Royal Foxhound Show; coursing and its story; Game pie; Shooting with Surtees; John Gully and Jerry Hawkins - stalwarts; The Graces of Gloucestershire; Brighton in its heyday; Hyde Park in the days of its glory.