Bibliography of British
Sports History
Volume One - Bibliography of Nation-wide
Studies of the History of Sport in Britain
This book is
dedicated to my parents Audrey and Jeffrey Cox
Foreword to the Second
Edition
Professor Richard Holt
I
am delighted to write a foreword to the second edition of this excellent
bibliography. The extraordinary
diligence and tenacity of the author made the first edition an invaluable work
of reference to all those working in the history of sport in Britain. That so
much was done with so little support is quite remarkable. More remarkable still and greatly to be
appreciated, is that Richard Cox has now up‑dated this essential work of
reference to take into account the multitude of new material that has appeared
in recent years.
I
have taken my copy of Richard Cox from the shelf on many occasions in the last
decade for my own research but it is teaching sports history, especially at the
graduate level, which has brought home to me the full value and importance of what the author has done.
Starting with his shoe boxes in the garage and holidays spent tracking down obscure collections, he has
harnessed the potential of new computer technology to provide an exceptionally
rich source of references. As he says,
it has been an 'obsession' and he is surely right to thank his family for their
forbearance. But from the student's point of view it has been a magnificent obsession and we should suitably be
grateful, both to the author and to those around him who made this possible.
Most
books are quickly written and soon forgotten. But future generations as well as
our own will benefit from all this painstaking work. Essays which otherwise
might not have been written may appear simply because a prospective author could
find a fruitful point of departure. Some of us who have attempted more general
works will be chastened and daunted by how much we failed to find let alone to
read. Compiling bibliographies is an essential but often a thankless task. So
on behalf of all those who will use this work and benefit from it, perhaps I
should end by simply saying 'thank you'.
Preface
This bibliography, which lists in
classified order national histories of sport(s) in Britain is volume one of a
three volumed series of bibliographies documenting the literature of British
sports history. It is complemented by Volume Two - Local Studies in the
History of British Sport (including histories of individual clubs, teams,
venues and tournaments (London: Frank Cass, 2001) and Volume Three - Bibliography
of British Sporting Biography (London: Frank Cass, 2001). Collectively,
they list the secondary works on the history of sport in Britain and comprise
the second stage of a three stage project to document the sources for the study
of the history of sport in Britain.
The first phase was to identify the
different types of sources for researching the development of sport(s) and
sport-related topics in Britain, discuss their merits, problems associated with
their use, and guidance on
how to identify and locate the existence of individual items of
potential interest. This was published as History of Sport: A Guide to the
Literature and Sources of Information (Frodsham: Sports History Publishing,
1994). A second, updated edition is planned for publication in 2002 (Frank
Cass).
The third phase is to document
selected primary sources for the study of sport in Britain. The first part, A Selective Bibliography
of Printed Primary Sources on British Sport is due for publication in 2002.
This lists in classified order the principal contemporary monographs and
periodical publications. More specialist indexes include a listing of archive
collections Sporting Archives in the
U.K. (London: The Sports Council, 1983), manuscripts Index to Sporting Manuscripts in the U.K.
(Frodsham: Sports History Publishing, 1985) and indexes to prominent 19th and
early 20th century journals (already underway but not due for publication until
sometime into the future).
The final step will
be to establish and
maintain an up‑to‑date on‑line bibliography of both
primary and secondary sources which may be searched in a number of fields
using key words selected from a controlled vocabulary and accessed remotely
via the Internet.
In the 10 years which have elapsed
since publication of the first edition of this bibliography, sports history has
taken giant strides forwards in scholarship and the output of publications has
more than doubled. The recognition it now enjoys as an important aspect of our
cultural heritage is reflected in the prestigious publishing houses which now
have special series and serials on sports history and the fact that most authors no longer feel obliged to justify the
subject in the manner they once did.
The growth in literature is
reflected in the size of the annual bibliography of sports history publications
which I have compiled since 1984. The first one, published in the British
Journal of Sports History (later to become the International Journal of
the History of Sport) totalled around 150 entries, the one for 1999 is
almost 1000. The sheer volume necessitated it being withdrawn from the journal
in 1995 and is now published as a separate volume in its own right (Frank Cass,
2001).
The rapid increase in publications
in recent years can be explained in part to the fact that during the late 1980s
and early 90s, many clubs, leagues and governing bodies have celebrated their
centenaries and produced histories to commemorate their achievements. It is
also the result of the growing popularity and realisation of the importance and
significance of sports history research within academe. Although the number of
sports history courses taught within Sports Studies/Physical Education
departments has declined, it has mushroomed in departments of history, at
undergraduate and post-graduate level, facilitated in part, by the introduction
of modular degrees in just about every institution of higher education in
Britain. Also, the number of students in higher education in Britain is also
nearly double what it was a decade ago and this must have had some impact, and
undoubtedly explains the other phenomena, growing numbers of higher degree
students pursuing sports history research. A number of recent publications also
illustrate the growing interest in sports history within Workers' Educational
Associations, local history societies, oral history groups, local authority
history units, etc. The public at large are also now demanding to know more
about sport in all its facets. Continuous exposure to sport by the media and
the growing intervention of the state have engaged more and more of the
population in following - or better still - participating in sport. These
individuals now want to know more about the activities they enjoy, the teams
they support and the stars they worship. The growth of IT literacy, the ready
access to desk-top publishing software and on-demand printing has helped ensure
that the record keeping of amateur enthusiasts, club administrators, etc finds
its way into print. The once hand written manuscript deposited within the club
archive is today more likely to be word-processed, printed off and distributed
to anyone who wants a copy, including the local library.
The result of this increased popularity
in sports history is that the 2nd edition of this bibliography is double the
size of the first.
Contents
Foreword
by Professor Richard Holt
Preface
Contents
Acknowledgements..................................................................................
Introduction......................................................................................
Compilation
of the
Bibliography...................................................................
Additional
Notes to the Compilation of the 2nd edition............................................
Organisation
of the
Bibliography..................................................................
Using
the
Bibliography............................................................................
Postscript:
A Short Comment on Bibliographical
Scholarship........................................
Part I General Surveys of Sport in Britain (including Material Specific
to England, N. Ireland, Scotland and Wales)
Reference
Works........................................................................
World-wide
Histories...................................................................
Britain................................................................................
Anglo Saxon and Medieval
Britain.................................................
Modern Britain
Sixteenth
Century.....................................................
Seventeenth
Century.................................................
Eighteenth
Century....................................................
Nineteenth
Century....................................................
Twentieth
Century.....................................................
Part II Histories of Individual Sports in Britain
Aerobatics...............................................................
Angling....................................................................
Archery....................................................................
Association
Football.................................................
Athletics..................................................................
Badminton..................................................................
Ballooning...............................................................
Bear
Baiting.............................................................
Billiards..................................................................
Bowling....................................................................
Boxing.....................................................................
Canoeing..................................................................
Caving.....................................................................
Cock‑Fighting...........................................................
Coursing...................................................................
Cricket....................................................................
Croquet....................................................................
Curling....................................................................
Cycling....................................................................
Darts......................................................................
Deer
Stalking...........................................................
Dog
Racing..............................................................
Driving....................................................................
Eventing...................................................................
Fencing....................................................................
Field
Hockey...............................................................
Fives......................................................................
Fox‑Hunting................................................................
Gaelic
Football............................................................
Game
Shooting..............................................................
Gliding....................................................................
Golf.......................................................................
Gymnastics.................................................................
Handball...................................................................
Homing.....................................................................
Horse‑Racing...............................................................
Hurling....................................................................
Ice‑Hockey.................................................................
Ice‑Skating................................................................
Judo.......................................................................
Knurr and
Spell............................................................
Lacrosse...................................................................
Lawn
Tennis................................................................
Motor‑Car
Racing...........................................................
Motor‑Cycle
Racing.........................................................
Mountaineering.............................................................
Parachuting................................................................
Polo.......................................................................
Power Boat
Racing........................................................
Punting....................................................................
Rackets....................................................................
Real
Tennis................................................................
Rock
Climbing..............................................................
Rowing.....................................................................
Rugby
League...............................................................
Rugby
Union................................................................
Sailing....................................................................
Shinty.....................................................................
Shooting...................................................................
Show
Jumping...............................................................
Skiing.....................................................................
Snooker....................................................................
Speedway...................................................................
Squash.....................................................................
Swimming and
Diving....................................................
Table
Tennis...............................................................
Water
Polo.................................................................
Weight‑Lifting.............................................................
Wrestling..................................................................
Part III Isle of Man..................................................................
Jersey..................................................................
Ireland..................................................................
Scotland..................................................................
Wales..................................................................
Author
Index........................................................................................
Acknowledgements
Firstly, I would like to reiterate
my thanks to the many friends, colleagues and family whose help and support I
acknowledged in the first edition.
With specific reference to this
second edition, I would like to single out the ongoing support of John Jenkins
who for the last 10 years has been a constant source of information,
voluntarily plying me with new references and patiently reading through what I
have listed to iron out the inevitable mistakes. Andrew Huxtable of the
National Union of Track and Field Statisticians, Andy Mitchell of the Scottish
Football Association and Jack Williams also deserve a special mention for
making this publication and the other in the series much better publications
than they would have otherwise been. Professors John Bale, Jeff Hill, Grant
Jarvie, John McIlwaine, Gertrud Pfister, Mike Salter, Wray Vamplew and Gareth
Williams, all fellow members of the British Society of Sports History, have
also provided inspiration and support in different ways at different times. The
support of Sport UK in enabling me to attend a number of international
conferences where I have benefited from exposure to new ideas and information
is also much appreciated.
For writing the Foreword and
offering encouragement over a long number of years, I would like to thank
Richard 'Dick' Holt. His Sport and the British I have always regarded as
the seminal work on the history of sport in Britain and I am therefore thrilled
he was willing to give his endorsement of the bibliography.
Introduction
This bibliography has been compiled
to meet the increasing demand by social historians, physical educationists,
librarians, journalists, book collectors and all those otherwise interested in
publications on the history of sport in Britain for information. Every week I
receive many enquiries, to which, unfortunately, I simply do not have the time
to respond to. Hopefully, this publication will provide a useful source for
many of those enquiries.
The background and history to the
project as a whole were outlined in detail in the Preface to the 1st edition
and a forthcoming article ('Tales of a Bibliophile...' see below) but basically
several bibliographies containing references on the history of sport in Britain
already existed, but these were restricted to particular categories ‑
forms of publications (monographs, periodical articles, conference papers,
etc.); periods in history (Medieval, Victorian, etc.); individual or groups of
individual activities (ball games, water sports, cricket, etc.), geographical areas
(East Anglia, London, etc.); religion, race or gender; country, period,
language of publication; publishers, library collections; levels of scholarship
or some combination of the above. [1] Historical bibliographies, on the other
hand, at least until recently, had largely ignored details of sporting
literature. [2] Since existing bibliographies are highly selective and/or
limited in scope, and because as a whole, they fail to provide comprehensive
coverage of the total literature on the history of sport in Britain there was
an obvious need for a new compilation of this kind. This is what led to the
publication of the first edition in 1991 and now the demand for an updated
version.
This bibliography attempts to
document all that which has been written in the English language on the history
of sport(s) and physical education in Britain nation-wide (including historical
reference works). As mentioned in the Preface, it is one volume of a 3 volumed
series which collectively in turn comprise the second part of a three‑part
project. Its intention is to list all secondary source material (monographs,
periodical articles, conference papers, chapters in books, Festschriften,
theses, and typescripts), including reference works, in a classified order to
meet the needs of the sports historian and all those otherwise interested in
the development of sport in Britain and its literature. Summaries and abstracts
published in conference reports have also been included in the hope that where
little alternative literature exists they provide a useful lead via the author
to other information.
Before outlining in more detail what
exactly is and is not included in the bibliography it is important to clarify a
few of the terms used. For the purposes of this bibliography, I have
interpreted the term sport in a very broad sense to include all forms of
competitive human‑instigated activity involving physical skill, often
bound by a set of rules and engaged in for the pursuit of pleasure or other
reward. With this definition in mind, it is clear that some activities can be
classified as a sport under some conditions but not under others. For example,
sailing is a form of human‑instigated activity involving physical skill,
engaged in for the pursuit of pleasure, but only counts as sport when carried
out under competitive conditions. Although this working definition would
include field sports because they are competitive, human‑instigated
involving physical skills, bound by a set of rules (however rudimentary), in
the pursuit of pleasure, it would not include such activities as chess, bridge
or poker. Although they are competitive, human‑instigated activities
bound by a set of rules, engaged in for the pursuit of pleasure, they are not
primarily physical in nature. Histories of physical education and training have
been included because of the manner in which the expressions have sometimes
been used to subsume the term sport and because in the correct sense of the
term, the physical education/training curriculum has often employed sporting
activities to achieve its goals.
A secondary source is regarded as a
work passing comment or making judgement on events passed. It is distinguished
from a primary source which simply documents or describes decisions, events and
states of affairs. By and large, primary sources are written and compiled
nearer to the time of the event and therefore cannot offer hindsight with
respect to the passing of time. These works which would include such titles as Soccer
Skills for Teenagers, Fishing the Test, The Rules of Hockey,
etc. are included in the select bibliography of primary sources (see below).
Reference works may be regarded as secondary sources listing and or summarising
information. Most of these working
definitions will become more apparent following examination of the limitations
outlined in the next few pages.
Included in this volume are:
Reference
works considered to be of interest
to the historian of sport
in Britain including bibliographies,
dictionaries, encyclopedias and statistical records; lists,
descriptions and details of sporting
verse, songs, ties, trophies and other potentially useful
background information. This
includes specialist reference
works such as dictionaries of
sport, encyclopedias of cricket,
etc. but obviously
not all dictionaries or encyclopedias
mentioning the words sport,
cricket, etc. even if,
like the Encyclopedia Britannica, they devotes significant
sections to the subjects.
Specialist collections of books and
literature on sport/individual sports in the U.K.
Worldwide and general histories of
sport(s), sporting institutions, etc. making reference to the development of
sport(s) and sport‑related activities in Britain.
General histories of sport in
Britain, including histories of sports
related concepts and activities, for example, athleticism, physical education,
physical training, sporting art and architecture, sports coaching,
fiction, journalism, management,
philately; gambling in sport,
manufacture and production of sports goods, etc.
Histories of individual sports
in Britain, including
histories of rules, techniques, equipment and
clothing.
Histories of governing bodies
of sport and national teams, including their fortunes overseas.
General histories, including economic,
cultural, social,
intellectual, local and political histories, making reference to
the development of sport(s) and sport‑related activities in Britain.
Summaries and abstracts appearing in
conference reports are also included in the hope that they may provide leads to
other works by the author, even though in themselves their value is limited.
Excluded
from the bibliography are:
Publications in the English language
published after 31 December, 1999, the cut-off date for the bibliography.
Reference works, general histories and histories of sport(s)
making no or only passing reference (less than one page) to sport in
Britain.
Details of special collections of
literature on sport based overseas, including those containing large and
important collections. For
example, the Library of the
Tennis and Racquets Club, New
York. Many important collections
overseas can be traced in B. T. Darnay's, Directory of Special Libraries
and Information Centres (Detroit,
MI: Gale Research Co., published
annually) and similar guides.
Special collections of literature
held in private hands who did not wish to
be included in this bibliography.
Short histories from newspapers revealing no new information and where
more substantial literature is known to exist and has already been included in this Bibliography. This would mean that a sketch history of the
F.A. Cup appearing in a national
newspaper on Cup Final day would
not be included, but a newspaper
history of an obscure sport like 'Welsh Handball' that had not
been previously written about would.
Histories of archery and fencing
in warfare, walking in a
rambling sense, cycling, rowing
and sailing as forms of transport, etc.
Histories of international competitions
(the Olympic Games, the America's Cup,
etc.) except when taking place
in Britain (for example, the
1908 and 1948 Olympic Games), or where
a substantial portion of the text is devoted
to the progress of British
teams.
Histories of sport(s) in other
countries making only
brief comment on
the performance of British players, teams, equipment, etc. This includes histories of big game hunting
overseas despite its popularity amongst certain sections of Victorian society.
National histories making only
passing reference to sport (ie less
than one page).
Regional studies of sport, including
histories of individual clubs, teams, festivals, tournaments and sporting
venues. These are listed in volume two
- Local Studies in the History of Sport in Britian.
Autobiographies, biographies and
memoirs of sportsmen and sportswomen. These are listed in volume 3 - Biographical
Studies of British Sportsmen, Sportswomen and Animals.
Studies analysing technique purely
from a technical point of view
as in a book or article, etc.
on biomechanics or kinesiology, etc.
Published primary sources such
as parliamentary papers,
annual reports, yearbooks, planning documents, directories of facilities, officers,
names and addresses etc.; rules, newspaper cuttings, newsheets,
promotional brochures and guides, match reports, maps, etc.
unless they were special editions (eg.
centenary yearbook) including some form of historical account. These are
too vast in number to include. A select
list of printed primary sources is to be published by the compiler in due
course. Some may by traced by referring to R. W. Cox's compilation of 19th
Century British sporting literature in The New Cambridge Bibliography of
English Literature (Cambridge University Press, 1998) and the guides and bibliographies noted on p. ix and
the reference works, special collections, etc. listed at the foot of each
section.
Manuscript sources such as
diaries. For details of
sporting manuscripts in
public and selected
private collections in the UK, see
R. W.
Cox (comp.), Index to
Sporting Manuscripts in the U.K. (London:
The Sports Council, 1983). This is updated annually in The Sports
Historian.
Coaching/instruction manuals
except where a substantial portion of the text is of a historical nature.
Films, videos, oral recordings and
other non‑printed materials. See The British
National Film and
Video Catalogue; it is published annually and available at most
large reference libraries or the library of
the British Film Institute, 21 Stepehn Street, London W1P 2LN.
Fiction.
Finally, it is important for the
user to appreciate that no quality control has been imposed on the
entries included or excluded
outside the confines just described.
Whilst some works
will be of
considerable value to
the social historian others will offer little help. The policy has been to include everything
known to exist, irrespective of
availability, size or scholarship. It
is the compiler's contention that accurate and reliable studies, regardless of their scholarship, in terms of historical analysis, are often
a valuable starting point
for the academic historian, if only to identify significant events and
personalities. This is especially the
case in relatively new
and uncharted areas of historical investigation where a wealth of
literature does not already exist.
More important in
the context of
this bibliography, however, is
the fact that it is also intended to provide a valuable reference source for librarians, journalists, collectors and all
other such groups interested in the history of sport in Britain.
In due course, especially when a
wealth of scholarly literature has amassed, as one suspects it will on the
basis of recent trends, there may
be a
case for coding entries
in terms of scholarship in order to assist the more discerning academic
historian differentiate what is likely to be more pertinent to his/her
particular interests.
Compilation
of the Bibliography
This bibliography has been compiled
from an examination of the holdings of many public and private collections, in
particular:
I.
Public Collections
A.
National Libraries
The
British Library (Reference Division)
The
National Library of Scotland (Edinburgh)
The
National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth)
B.
Local Libraries
Aberdeen,
Aberystwyth, Arbroath, Accrington, Alloa, Altrincham, Ashford, Ashington, Ashton‑under‑Lyne,
Aylesbury, Ayr, Balivanich, Ballymena, Ballynalinch, Barking, Barnsley, Barry,
Basingstoke, Bath, Batley, Bearsden, Bedford, Belfast, Berwick‑upon‑Tweed,
Bexley, Birkenhead, Birmingham, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bingley, Bodmin, Bolton,
Bootle, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brent, Bridgend, Brierley Hill, Brighton,
Bristol, Bromley, Burnley, Burton‑on‑Trent, Bury, Bury St Edmunds,
Caernarfon, Cambridge, Camden, Cannock, Canterbury, Cardiff, Carlisle,
Carmarthen, Chelsea, Chester, Chesterfield, Chippenham, Chorley, Cinderford,
Cirencester, Clydebank, Colchester, Coventry, Crewe, Croydon, Cumnock, Cwmbran,
Dagenham, Darlington, Derby, Doncaster, Dorchester, Dudley, Dumbarton,
Dumfries, Dundee, Dunfermline, Dunoon, Durham, Ealing, Edinburgh, Elgin, Elmbridge,
Enfield, Epsom, Evesham, Exeter, Falkirk, Farnborough, Farnworth, Fermanagh,
Folkestone, Forfar, Fulham, Gateshead, Giffnock, Gillingham, Glasgow (Mitchell
Library), Gloucester, Gravesend, Greenock, Grimsby, Guildford, Hackney,
Haddington, Halifax, Hamilton, Hammersmith, Harrogate, Hartlepool,
Haverfordwest, Havering, Hemel Hempstead, Hendon, Hereford, Hertford, High
Wycombe, Hillingdon, Hinckley, Hounslow, Hove, Huddersfield, Hull, Huntingdon,
Huyton, Ilkeston, Ilkley, Inverness, Ipswich, Islington, Keighley, Kendal,
Knutsford, Lambeth, Lanark, Leamington Spa, Leeds, Leek, Leicester, Leigh,
Lewes, Lewisham, Leyland, Lincoln, Liverpool (Picton Library), Llandrindod
Wells, Llandudno, Llangefni, London (The Guildhall Library), Londonderry,
Loughborough, Lowestoft, Lymington, Lytham St Annes, Macclesfield, Maidstone,
Manchester, Mansfield, Margate, Matlock, Melton Mowbray, Merthyr Tydfil,
Merton, Middlesbrough, Middleton, Mitcham, Mold, Morpeth, Motherwell,
Musselburgh, Nelson, Newark‑upon‑Trent, Newcastle‑upon‑Tyne,
Newport (Isle of Wight), Newport (Monmouthshire), Northallerton, Northampton,
North Shields, Norwich, Nottingham, Nuneaton, Oakham, Omagh, Oxford, Peebles,
Perth, Peterborough, Plumstead, Plymouth, Portadown, Portsmouth, Preston,
Rawtenstall, Reading, Redcar, Renfrew, Richmond‑upon‑Thames,
Rochdale, Rotherham, Rugby, Runcorn, St Helens, Sale, Salford, Salisbury,
Scarborough, Selkirk, Sevenoaks, Sheffield, Shrewsbury, Sittingbourne,
Sleaford, Slough, Smethwick, Solihull, Southampton, South Shields, Southwark,
Stafford, Stirling, Stockport, Stockton‑upon‑Tees, Stoke‑on‑Trent,
Stourbridge, Stratford‑upon‑Avon, Stroud, Sunderland, Sutton‑in-Ashfield,
Swansea, Swindon, Taunton, Tipton, Tonbridge, Torquay, Tower Hamlets, Trafford,
Trearch, Trowbridge, Truro, Tunbridge Wells, Upper Norwood, Urmston, Uxbridge,
Wakefield, Wallsend, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Warrington, Warwick, Watford,
Wednesbury, Welwyn Garden City, Wembley, West Bromwich, Westhoughton,
Westminster, Weston‑super‑Mare, Weybridge, Whitehaven, Widnes,
Wigan, Winchester, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Worksop, Worthing, Wrexham, Yate,
Yeovil, York.
The
A.P. Awdry Collection of Cricket Literature (Chippenham Public Library)
The
Reid Memorial Angling Collection (The Mitchell Library, Glasgow)
II.
Private Collections
The
Centre for Sports Science and History (University of Birmingham)
The
Sport England Information Unit (Woburn Place, London)
The
Higginson Collection of Books and Periodicals on Hunting and Field Sports (The
London Library)
The
Horse and Hound Library (The National Equestrian Centre, Stoneleigh,
Kenilworth)
The
Kenneth Ritchie Memorial Library (Wimbledon)
The
Library of The Alpine Club (London)
The
Library of The British Olympic Association (London)
The
Library of The Cruising Association (London)
The
Library of The Fell and Rock Climbing Club (University of Lancaster)
The
Library of The Football Association (London)
The
Library of The Football League (Lytham St Annes)
The
Library of The Hurlingham Polo Association (Hurlingham)
The
Library of The MCC (London)
The
Library of The Physical Education Association (London)
The
Library of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club (St Andrews)
The
Library of The Royal Caledonian Curling Club (Edinburgh)
The
Library of The Rugby League (Leeds)
The
Library of The Squash Racquets Association
The
Library of The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (Wrexham)
The
Library of The Women Golfers' Museum (Edinburgh)
The
libraries and holdings of a number of collectors and dealers too numerous to
mention.
An
examination of a large number of Current Awareness Publications Indexes and
Bibliographical Serials including the following:
Cumulative
Book Index (1898 onwards)
Poole's
Index to Periodical Literature (1802‑1907)
Subject
Index to Periodicals (1915‑1962)
The
Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals
Aslib
Index to Theses Accepted for Higher Degrees by Universities of Great Britain
and Ireland and the Council for National Academic Awards
(1951 onwards)
Annual
Bibliography of British and Irish History
(1975 onwards)
'Articles
Relating to the History of Wales', published annually in Welsh Historical
Review (1960 onwards)
Australian
National Bibliography (1971 onwards)
Bibliographical
Index on Physical Education, Sport and Allied Subjects
(1967 onwards)
Bibliography
of Historical Works Issued in the United Kingdom
(covering the period 1946‑1975)
'Bibliography
of Southern History' (published annually in Southern History)
Bibliography
Index (1946 onwards)
'Book
Notes and Journal Surveys' (both published periodically in The Journal of
Sport History (1974 onwards)
Books
in Print (1987)
British
Books in Print (1987)
British
Education Index (1954 onwards)
British
Humanities Index (1962 onwards) (formerly Subject
Index to Periodicals)
British
National Bibliography (1951 onwards)
Combined
Retrospective Index to Journals in History,1838‑1974
Completed
Research in Health, Physical Education, Recreation
and
Dance (1959 onwards)
Cumulative
Book Index (1898 onwards)
'Current
Bibliography of Urban History' (published annually in Urban History Yearbook
since 1972)
Current
Contents (Humanities and Social Sciences)
ERIC
RIE Resources in Education (1966 onwards)
CIJE
Current Index to Journals in Education (1969 onwards)
Essay
and General Literature Index (1934 onwards)
Historical
Abstracts a) Modern History Abstracts, 1450‑1914
b) 20th Century Abstracts (1950 onwards)
Humanities
Index (1974 onwards)
International
Bibliography of Historical Sciences
(1930)
International
Mediaeval Bibliography (1967 onwards)
'List
of Publications on the Economic and Social History of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland' (published annually in Economic History Review (1927
onwards)
Monthly
Selection of Recent Publications on Sport, Physical Education and Recreation
(1971‑77)
Leisure,
Recreation and Tourism Abstracts (1975 onwards)
Master's
Abstracts (1861‑1972, 1987)
Physical
Education Index (1978 onwards)
Physical
Education/Sports Index (1978 onwards)
Poole's
Index to Periodical Literature (1802‑1907)
'Recent
Publications in Local History' (published annually in Local Historian)
(1952 onwards)
'Review
of Periodical Literature and Occasional Publications' (published annually in Northern
History) (1964 onwards)
Social
Science Index (1974 onwards)
Sociology
and Leisure Abstracts (1980 onwards)
Sports
Documentation Monthly Bulletin (formerly Sports
Information Bulletin) (1971 onwards)
Sports
Dokumentation (1974 onwards)
Sports
Search (1984 onwards)
Subject
Index to Periodicals (1915‑1962)
'Victorian
Bibliography' (published annually in Victorian Studies) (1957 onwards)
The
Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals
Writings
on British History (the volumes covering
1901‑1974)
Several of these services were also
interrogated on‑line to search retrospectively or to update. Printouts
were purchased from SIRLS (an information retrieval system for the Sociology of
Sport and Leisure) Files 38 (Social History of Sport and Leisure, Renaissance
to Modern Times) and 39 (Social History of Sport and Leisure in Ancient and
Medieval Times).
Finally, the contents of a large
number of periodicals (including directories and yearbooks) not indexed in any
of the above (e.g. Athletics Weekly, Canoeist, Rowers'
Almanack, Rugby World, The Swimming Times, etc.) were
examined, some of which did and others which did not contain items of interest
to the sports historian. Although a start was made to indexing historical items
contained within the pages of popular cricket journals and serials (e.g. Cricket
World and its predecessors, The Cricketer, The Cricket
Statistician, The Journal of the Cricket Society, Wisden
Cricketer's Almanack, Wisden's Cricket Monthly, etc.), it was
eventually decided that comprehensive indexing in this sense was beyond the
scope of this particular bibliography and perhaps worthy of a separate volume
of its own to complement Padwick's work (op. cit.). Items included from popular
cricket magazines comprise a select list of mainly recent articles to
illustrate the range of articles from those appearing in volumes to which the
compiler had ready access.
The
proceedings of the following professional organisations:
American
Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD)
Australian
Society for Sports History (ASSH)
British
Society for Sports History (BSSH)
Canadian
Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation History of Sport and
Physical Activity Committee
History
of Education Society (including the History of Physical Education Study Group)
International
Council for Comparative Sport and Physical Education
International
Association for the History of Sport (HISPA), since 1990 The International
Society for the History of Physical
Education and Sport (ISHPES)
National
College Physical Education Association (NCPEA)
North
American Society of Sports Historians (NASSH)
Society
for the Study of Labour History
and
numerous conferences.
An
examination of the following guides and select bibliographies:
Allen,
D. R., Early Books on Cricket (London: Europa, 1987).
Altholz,
J. L., Victorian England, 1837‑1901
(Bibliographical Handbook Series) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1970).
Beavan,
N. F., Big Game Hunting, Deer Stalking, Game Shooting, Wildfowling,
Gamekeeping and Associated Natural History: A Chronological Bibliography
Covering the Years, 1413 to 1939 (Chester: published privately, 1982).
Besterman,
T., A World Bibliography of Bibliographies (4th edition) (Lausanne,
Societas Bibliographica, 1966).
Bilboul,
R. R., Retrospective Index to Theses in Great Britain and Northern Ireland:
1716‑1950 (London: Aslib, 1976).
Bowes,
R., A Catalogue of Books Printed at or Relating to the University and County
of Cambridge from 1521 to 1983 (Cambridge: Macmillan and Bowes, 1984).
Brown,
L. M. and Christie, I. R., Bibliography of British History, 1789‑1851
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977).
Chiasson,
C., et al., Sports Bibliography (Ottawa: Canadian Coaching Association,
1980) (8 volumes) (and supplements).
Comprehensive
Dissertation Index, 1861‑1972
(and supplements, 1973‑82, 1983‑88).
Cox,
R. W., Theses and Dissertations on the History of Sport, Physical Education
and Recreation Accepted for Higher Degrees and Advanced Diplomas in British
Universities 1900‑1981 (Liverpool: Bibliographical Centre for the
History of Sport, Physical Education and Recreation, 1982).
Cox,
R. W., American Theses on the History of British Sport, Physical Education
and Recreation (Liverpool: Bibliographical Centre for the History of Sport,
Physical Education and Recreation, 1982).
Craven,
R. R., Billiards, Bowling, Table Tennis, Pinball and Video Games: A
Bibliographical Guide (Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1983).
Davies,
G., Bibliography of British History, 1603‑1714 (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1970).
Dickinson,
J. S., 'An Annotated Bibliography of Historical Writings Related to Physical
Education in National Professional Physical Education Journals and Proceedings
in North America During the Last Decade', M.S. thesis, University of Oregon,
1973.
Grant,
E. G., Scotland (World Bibliographical Series Vol. 35) (Oxford: Clio
Press, 1982).
Gratch,
B., Chan, B. and Lingenfelter, J., Sport and Physical Education: A Guide to
Reference Resources (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983).
Graves,
E. B., Bibliography of British History to 1485 (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1975).
Grimshaw,
A., The Horse: A Bibliography of British Books, 1851‑1976 (London:
The Library Association, 1982).
Hanham,
H. J., Bibliography of British History, 1851‑1914 (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1976).
Hannock,
P. D., A Bibliography of Works Relating to Scotland (Edinburgh: Edinburgh
University Press, 1960).
Havinghurst,
A., Modern England, 1901‑1970 (Bibliographical Handbook Series)
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976).
Higgs,
R. J., Sport: A Guide to Reference Sources (Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press, 1983).
Jacobs,
P. M., History Theses, 1901‑70 (London: University of London
Institute of Historical Research, 1976).
Jones,
E. G., A Bibliography of the Dog: Books Published in the English Language,
1570‑1965 (London: The Library Association, 1971).
Keighley,
J. S., PERDAS 1950‑1980: A List of Theses, Dissertations and Projects
on Physical Education, Recreation, Dance, Athletics and Sport Presented to U.K.
Universities (London: Librarians of Institutes and Schools of Education,
1981).
Kennington,
D., The Source Book of Golf (London: Library Association, 1981).
Krawczyk,
C., Mountaineering: A Bibliography of Books in English to 1974
(Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1976).
Kuehl,
W. F., Dissertations in History (United States and Canadian Universities)
(Vol. 1 1873‑1960, Vol. 2 1961‑ 1970, (Lexington, KY: University of
Kentucky Press) (Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press) Vol. 3 1971‑1980)
(Santa Barbara, CA: Clio Press, 1985)
Lake,
F. and Wright, H., A Bibliography of Archery (Manchester: Simon Archery
Foundation, 1974).
Loder,
E. P., Bibliography of the History and Organisation of Horse Racing and
Thoroughbred Breeding in Great Britain and Northern Ireland (London: J. A.
Allen, 1981).
Lovesey,
P. and McNab, T., Guide to British Track and Field Literature, 1275‑1968
(London: Athletics Arena, 1969).
Malherne,
W. A., Chronological Bibliography of Hockey (Johannesburg: Johannesburg
Public Library, 1965).
Mallon,
B., The Olympics: A Bibliography (New York, NY: Garland, 1984).
Martin,
G. H. and McIntyre, S., A Bibliography of British and Irish Municipal
History (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1972)
Murdock,
J. S. F., The Library of Golf, 1743‑1966 ‑ A Bibliography of
Golf Books (Detroit, MI: Gale Research Co., 1968).
Mutimer,
B. T. P., Canadian Graduating Essays, Theses and Dissertations Relating to
the History and Philosophy of Sport, Physical Education and Recreation
(Trois Riviérés: CAHPER ‑ History of Sport and Physical Activities
Committee, 1975).
Neate,
W. R., Mountaineering and its Literature: A Descriptive Bibliography of
Selected Works in the English Language, 1744‑1976 (Milnthorpe:
Cicerone Press, 1978).
Padwick,
E. W., A Bibliography of Cricket (2nd edition) (London: The Library
Association in association with J. W. McKenzie on behalf of the Cricket
Society, 1984).
Pardoel,
H. W., A Bibliography of the Art and Sport of Fencing (Kingston, OT: The
Author, 1995).
Pargellis,
S. M. and Medley, D. J., A Bibliography of British History, 1714‑1789
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1951).
Read,
B. J., 'Mountaineering: The Literature in the English Language: A Classified
Bibliography', F.L.A. Thesis, 1978.
Read,
C., Bibliography of British History, 1485‑1603 (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1959).
Redmond,
G., 'Studies of the History of Physical Education and Sport', Bulletin of
Physical Education, X, 2 (April 1974), 51‑53.
Seddon,
P. J., A Football Compendium: A Comprehensive Guide to the Literature of
Association Football (2nd edition) (Boston Spa: The British Library
National Bibliographic Service, 1999).
Shoebridge,
M., Women in Sport: A Select Bibliography (London: Mansell, 1987).
Skilling,
B. C., 'British Canoeing Literature January 1866‑ January 1966: A Bibliography
and Subject Guide', F.L.A. Thesis, 1967.
Taylor,
P. J., F.L.A. Theses: Abstracts of all Theses Accepted for Fellowships of
the Library Association from 1964) (London: Library Association, 1979).
Thimm,
C. A., A Complete Bibliography of Fencing and Duelling as Practised by all
European Nations from the Middle Ages to the Present Day (London: Lane,
1896).
Toomey,
A. F., A World Bibliography of Bibliographies, 1964‑1974 (London:
Rowman and Littlefield, 1977).
and
an even larger number of bibliographies published as part of scholarly texts.
Whilst every attempt
has been made to make this
bibliography as complete as possible,
it cannot claim to be comprehensive.
Time did not permit a visit to every
appropriate library in the UK
and there was a small number unwilling or unable to co‑operate in the
project. Fortunately, the librarians of many of the collections I could not
visit obliged by supplying details of their holdings in the form of microform catalogues or
photocopied record cards, etc. covering the appropriate sections containing
references to sport. Where visits were
made, time did not
always allow physical
examination of every book in each of the collections consulted (especially
where the major part of the collection
was held in a remote or inaccessible stack) and there may be histories,
especially histories of large institutions and organisations such as the
Army, the titles of which do not
contain the word sport, but which devote attention to the subject in the
course of the text. Similarly, there may be a number of privately histories
which never found their way into indexes, bibliographies or
library collections.
Full bibliographical details do not
exist (in the sense of including
details of an author or date of
publication, etc.) or were not provided
in several of
the catalogues, bibliographies
and indexes consulted [3]. Although I managed to trace the missing details of
some of the published works using such reference
sources as The British Library Catalogue of Printed Books
to 1975 and
its supplements, several references,
especially minor club histories
with limited print runs, remain incomplete.
The policy has been to include these in the hope that
the researcher may still manage
to locate any such publications which appear to be of interest.
Additional
Notes to the Compilation of the 2nd Edition
In the 10 years which have elapsed
since the publication of the first edition of this bibliography in 1991, many
new publications have come to light as a result of more extensive research and
the publication of other bibliographies.
In the summer of 1995 I carried out
a further survey of all public library local studies collections. I sent
libraries a copy of the relevant section from the updated first edition and
asked them to make any corrections and/or additions. To my pleasant surprise I
received about 200 replies. Given the increasing demands on librarians' time I
am most grateful to those who responded - some in considerable detail and most
very promptly. I also had the opportunity to personally visit some additional
library collections and search their holdings.
During the last few years, several
bibliographies of note have been published and I make no secret of the fact
that I have drawn upon them heavily. Steven Ely and Peter Griffith's Padwick
II maintained the very high
standards set by Tim Padwick in the documentation of cricket literature and
revealed much information about 1980s publications that I had not discovered as
a result of my own research. Peter
Seddon's Football Compendium (especially the second edition) added many
references on soccer that would have escaped my attention and so did Stewart
Davidson and Andy Mitchell's various bibliographies of Scottish football
histories. These include many short histories written by enthusiasts and
published privately that often never find their way into public library
collections or current awareness publications. John Jenkins' Rugby Compendium provided a highly comprehensive guide to the
book and thesis literature of rugby football in all its many forms. Also of
note is the bibliography of cycling champions compiled and published by Willy Scoevaets. There are a number of other
sports bibliographical projects still being researched as I write and I have
had the good fortune to be assisted by the compilers. This includes Andrew
Huxtable who has collaborated with Peter Lovesey and Tom McNab on an Athletics
Compendium and Dr Trevor James, who is compiling a bibliography of athletic
club histories. Both compilers have been immensely helpful over a number of
years. A sport on which I had little information in the first edition -
Speedway, has been improved considerably, especially in volume 2 by the help of
Graham Fraser.
Finally, I have also had the
opportunity to index a few additional journals during the intervening years.
Although the returns on most general
periodicals is very low (ie one may search 50 years of a journal to find
nothing pertinent) it has hopefully brought a number of more obscure but
valuable publications to light which otherwise would have gone unnoticed. Some
more specific sports periodicals were indexed over recent years and the details
of historical articles included. The major drawback of this approach in terms
of comprehensive coverage is that it has not been possible to always index
these retrospectively back to the very first issue. This is the case with such
publications as The Journal of the Cricket Society. If I am allowed to
excuse myself, it is perhaps worth pointing out this project has had to
continue essentially as a one-man effort without any financial support. A number of bids were made for financial
support but I am afraid that sport and even more so, sports history, let alone
sports history bibliography, comes very low down on the list of priorities for
most funding bodies. Funding for sports specific research is almost exclusively
reserved for research directed to preparing elite performers for international competition
or products with commercial potential in the market place.
As with the first edition, I do not
pretend that this bibliography can claim to be truly comprehensive, nor do I
expect (although naturally I would prefer) it to be without mistakes. I ask
again, therefore, for your assistance is drawing my attention to any omissions
and/or errors.
Various dilemmas remain and others
have arisen since compilation of the first edition. Most of the decisions of
what and what not to include have been determined by referring to my primary
aim - to bring to the attention of sports historians a comprehensive listing of
secondary sources on the history of sport in Britain. However, there are
certain anomalies. Where little literature exists (eg minority sports) the
tendency has been to comprehensively include all the historical references
regardless of their originality or level of scholarship. The view adopted is
that despite what academics might say about the relative merits of antiquarian
sport histories and chronologies, they often consult them for background
factual information, if for nothing else. On the other hand, where considerable
literature does exist and this has been well documented (eg. Cricket by Padwick
(1612)) only books published after the years covered by this bibliography and
any sources left out (such as periodical articles in the case of all three
examples cited above) have been comprehensively included. This will result in
considerable overlap if those bibliographies are ever updated (as is the case
with S. Ely's Padwick's Bibliography of Cricket II (1608), Jenkins' A
Rugby Compendium and Seddon's A Football Compendium (2884)). With
cricket, association football and rugby a decision was also taken not to
retrospectively index all the popular magazines on those sports such as
articles appearing in Wisden Cricket Monthly, The Cricketer, Cricket
International, Rugby World, etc. This is a decision made on the
grounds of achieving the best overall coverage of sport in the limited time and
resources at my disposal. To have done so would have been expensive and
resulted in the bibliography being too costly to publish at an affordable
price. Although I believe that most of the significant articles have been
picked up and referred to in the major biographies and histories of the more
popular sports, an unfortunate consequence is that occasionally (and I am
convinced very rarely), a valuable article containing original research
material appearing in a popular magazine has not been included whilst reminiscences
on something like, 'bygone fox hunting in Shropshire', which appeared in Country
Life has.
Time was also not available to check
through all general histories such as histories of England to see if anything
on sport was included. Where known, those containing sections on sport have
been included. This includes the growing number of photographic histories but
obviously there will be many references to sport that did not come to my
notice, especially those contained in library collections on which I had to
rely for remote feedback supplied by libraries in the form of
photocopied/microfiched catalogue cards, etc (see above). If that was all the detail on the catalogue
card it was not always feasible to get all the items brought up from the stack
(usually in the basement and occasionally at a remote repository). If they had
been supplied as photocopied lists, it felt too much of a liberty to return
them requesting additional information to be added. In more recent times this
would have been possible but very expensive, given the high search charges
which increasingly apply.
I have maintained my stance to
include items not seen but said to exist by responsible individuals on the
grounds that it is better to know of something and leave the interested researcher
to follow it up for themselves if appropriate to their work than make no
mention of it or spend an inordinate amount of time tracking it down. The most
effective way to do this is usually by consulting one of the special
collections and bibliographies listed in the Introduction or the foot of
individual sections, or consulting some of the library OPACs now readily
accessible via the Internet.
Many publications appearing in
published bibliographies have also been taken at their face value. There was no
reason to doubt the integrity of most other bibliographers, especially the
likes of Tim Padwick and his successors in compiling the bibliography of
cricket who always note with a special bullet 'items included but not seen'. If
it is known by anyone that there are any entries for works were never
published, published under another title, etc then I would be grateful to be
informed in order to correct future versions of the bibliography. This is a
practice I have already established in the annual bibliography of publications
on the history of sport in Britain which lists corrigenda as well as addenda.
Finally, further inconsistencies
arise from the fact that this project has been going on for so long. When I
started out on this venture in 1975, I was in my early twenties. At that stage
I did not have quite the same vision for the future of the project nor the same
eye for detail. In those early days, my primary purpose was to note down the
details of publications for my own future reference, not anyone else's. Hence,
I would usually indicate the source of reference, class reference if it was in
the local library on the record card to facilitate rapid access but not details
of the publisher, number of pages etc. This became a problem later when the
purpose changed. Without resourcing to do otherwise, I now had to settle on
what was the lowest common denominator for the bibliographic information
included in order to achieve a reasonable level consistency. Unfortunately,
even now, not all references are consistent. There is detail missing from some
of these entries either because of how I collected information (eg. from a
microfiche catalogue containing minimal bibliographical information) or the
stage I was at in the project when the details were obtained. Time and money,
as well as the draining effect on my energy for the project, prevented me from
retracing some of my steps for what I thought little non-vital information.
Admittedly a shortcoming, but to have done so would have reduced the scope and
completeness of the overall bibliography in other areas. That said, it is also
important to appreciate that many publications, especially small club centenary
brochures, etc, were tracked down, sometimes at considerable expense or time,
only to find that they did not include any details about author, publisher or
even date of publication in some cases.
Organisation
of the Bibliography
This bibliography is divided into
two main parts. Part I is concerned
with nation-wide histories of sport, including specialist topics such as
sporting art, law, broadcasting, literature, journalism, etc. These are divided
into G.B./U.K./England-wide, followed by the other individual countries making
up the U.K. including the Channel Islands. Part II is concerned with histories
of individual sports.
Part I lists world-wide histories of
sport with significant mention of developments in Britain and Britain's
influence in other parts of the world, historical surveys of
sport in Britain in general and is divided into periodic divisions from
ancient times to the present day. Part
II lists histories of individual sports
in Britain and is alphabetically arranged from Angling to
Wrestling. Within each division, reference works and histories are
listed separately. Reference works are listed in the following order - guides
to the literature, encyclopedias, dictionaries, statistics and records,
bibliographies and indexes, chronologies and other reference works. Where they
are known to exist, specialist collections of books accessible to the general
public are listed with contact details.
Publications concerned with the
history of sports‑related
activities such as sporting art, journalism, philately, or
with such topics as the dog or horse in sport are included in Part I, except where their focus is specific to
individual activities. A history of
fishing prints, for example, would be found under histories of angling in Part II. Histories of British, English, Scottish and Welsh teams are also
included in Volume One.
Histories of particular categories
of sports such as 'Martial Arts'
or 'Water Sports' will be found
in Part I, except where they obviously apply to no more than four individual
sports. In this instance, they would
have multiple entries under each of these sports in Part II. Thus a
study of the origins of rugby in general is listed under both Rugby League and
Rugby Union.
Histories of Services Sport
(Army, Navy, Police, etc.) or the
activities/teams of large multi‑sited corporate organisations as a whole
have been included in Part I.
With the exception of the Barbarians
Rugby Union team which may be regarded, to some extent, a Great Britain team,
histories of other wandering teams having no permanent home/venue are
listed in a separate section at the end of Volume II.
The primary objective in making many
of these decisions, especially the one
to include multiple entries, rather
than cross‑referencing to
unique locations, has been to assist the researcher, preventing him/her from having to turn too many
pages for references to the one
subject. Users, however,
are strongly advised to read the
section on 'Using the Bibliography' on pp. 20-??. The overall structure has also
been determined primarily
with the needs of the sports historian in mind, based on traditional approaches
to the subject. It is appreciated that this structure would not
ideally suit the librarian interested in
securing unique locations
for placing books on shelves or
the collector interested in their rarity or resale value, etc. Eventually, it is intended to make this
bibliography available on‑line.
Then it will be possible to search the
bibliography in several different fields using key words
selected from a controlled vocabulary.
Individual activities were not
grouped under broader subject headings such as Ball Games, Equestrian Sports, Martial Arts, Water
Sports, Fighting Sports, Indoor Sports,
Outdoor Sports, etc.
because there were too many anomalies. Polo, for example, whilst an equestrian sport is also a ball
game. Similarly, water polo, whilst
being a water sport and a ball game may be played indoors or outdoors.
Histories of large multi-sited national governing bodies, broadcasting or manufacturing comapnies (eg. Sport UK,
the B.B.C., Slazenger) are listed in Part A. Locally based businesses and
other similar organisations are listed in Volume Two under the name of the town
where they were/are located, even if they were major
manufacturers of sports equipment, eg. Gunn and Moore of Nottingham.
The same applies to individual
events taking place at multiple venues. The history of the Grand National are
in Volume Two under Lancashire - Liverpool, not horse racing in this
volume. An important exception to
the rules outlined
so far are histories of the Olympic Games when staged in Britain.
Although these catered
for multiple sports and
took place at several locations in and around London, all entries have been included under London
in Volume Two.
Even within these general rules
there were some publications difficult to locate. Robert Gate's Welshmen
Gone North (3642), for example, is in volume 1, 'British-wide' Rugby League
and Rugby Union, not under Wales - Rugby Union or Volume Three - Biographical
Studies - Collective Biographies - Rugby Union. Other examples are to be found
and this is why the in-depth researcher is strongly advised to read the 'Notes
to Users' on pp. ?-?.
Finally, a relatively small
proportion of entries have been found to have been allocated the same number by
the computer when sorting the records, likewise an almost equal number of
references have been removed due to duplications not previously coming to light
before preparation of the final manuscript. Together have introduced a few
anomolies in the sequential numbering.
Where these have occurred is most often between the end and start of a
section.
Using
the Bibliography
The purpose of this bibliography has
been to identify completed studies on the history of sport in Britain. The
researcher wishing to undertake original investigation is advised to consult
other volumes in the series, the reference sources and special collections listed at the foot of
each section and on pp. 7‑8 in order to identify additional sources of
information such as handbooks, directories,
coaching manuals, reports, minutes and accounts. It should be borne in
mind, however, that the special collections identified are not necessarily the
largest single collections of source material on those particular sports, only
those specialising in collecting material on Angling, Mountaineering, etc. The
national libraries and the municipal libraries of large counties and towns may
well contain a greater number of publications on a given sport than some of
those listed as specialist collections. Plumstead Library, for example, (see p.
) probably has a larger collection of books on Association Football than the
libraries of the Football Association and the Football League combined.
Unfortunately, most libraries do not
maintain records of the number of volumes they contain on a particular sport
and therefore it has not been possible to provide details for the user of this
bibliography. Equally, the bibliographies listed at the foot of each section
are not necessarily the biggest or most comprehensive. Some histories, such as
Smith and Williams' Fields of Praise (3667), for example, contain
significant bibliographies of secondary and
primary works. Those entries listed as bibliographies are 'stand‑alone'
only bibliographies.
It should be noted that researchers
are also advised to consult each of the three volumes of the bibliography.
Literature relating to a particular sport may be included in each one. As an
example, important references to the history of Association Football are to be
found in certain histories of public schools athleticism (volume 1), histories
of certain schools, leagues and clubs (Volume Two), and biographical studies of
certain individuals (volume 3), as well as in Part I under histories of
Association Football.
Although no separate histories were
identified for sports such as darts, netball, surfing and tug‑of‑war,
these and some other minority sports may be discussed, to some extent, in
certain general histories of sport listed in Part I.
General histories of sport in the
19th and 20th centuries are included in the section labelled the 19th century,
histories of sport since 1600 in the section on 17th century sport, and so
forth. Researchers of the 19th century would therefore need to check backwards
through those listed in earlier sections in order to use the bibliography most
effectively.
Researchers interested in such broad
based topics as women in sport, in the absence of a subject or key word index
will find it necessary to check through all sections, although if it is a
nation-wide history of women in sport, such entries as might exist would be
listed in Part I.
Not all general histories of a
particular sport have been indexed for details of information on specific
sports. A history of Grand Prix Motor Racing making frequent reference to
developments in Britain (the base of most racing teams) has been included but
not histories of golf, for example, making only passing reference (ie less than
a page or so) to developments in the UK. Again, I aspire to all such omissions
to be brought to my attention by readers so that they may be included in future
editions.
It was noted in the first edition
that the bibliography would be updated with annual bibliographies of
publications on the history of British sport, published in The British
Society of Sports History Bulletin (since renamed The Sports Historian).
This has been the case and will continue, but in a separate publication as
noted in the Preface.
Finally, a note about the emergence
of the Internet as a valuable source of reference in recent years. In 1995, I
published The Internet as A Resource for the Sports Historian (Frodsham:
Sports History Publishing, 1995) as a means of drawing attention to this new
and important resource. There is a growing volume of sports history information
accessible and this is accessible via the British Society Sports History World
Wide Web Gateway (http://www.zen20110.zen.co.uk/SportHistWeb/bssh.html). Sometimes leads can
be found to valuable publications on British sport, produced in a language
other than english, details of which would not appear in this bibliography.
Postscript:
A Short Comment on Bibliographical Scholarship
Reflecting on the project as a
whole, I have to admit that it has been something of a love-hate relationship.
Limited satisfaction is derived from the end product because in reality it is
an infinite task with diminishing returns on effort. Whilst it was relatively
easy to trace the first 80% of references included, the next 10% take twice as
long, the next 5% ten times as long as the first 80% and so on and so forth.
This is why it often frustrates me to see individuals put together a
bibliography for publication in a matter of months and think that they have
fulfilled the objectives of what scholarly bibliography is all about [5]. For
me, to be scholarly, a bibliography must fit snugly into the existing
bibliographical framework. I am not supportive of bibliographies that are
totally stand alone bibliographies put together piecemeal or based on what is
readily accessible in much the same way that a teacher might do for students on
his course using the school library without juxtapositioning their work in
relation to what already exists. I am very critical of works which end up
causing the serious researcher to spend more time searching for literature than
they would have done without the highly selective unexplained bibliography. For
me, a listing no matter how big, which does not indicate how selective they
have been, indicate where they have searched, or achieved a high degree of
comprehensive coverage within their terms of reference, is not an example
of scholarly bibliography. A scholarly
bibliography is one that digs virgin territory and unearths formerly hidden
sources. Whilst a listing of what books are available in the local library on a
given subject might be all right for guiding undergraduate students about to
write a term paper it is of little use to the 'coal-face' researcher who I aim
to support as well as the undergraduate student and sports enthusiast. The
problem with a new bibliography that does not fit rationally into the existing
framework or is incomplete is that the researcher still needs to consult much
wider and may ultimately have been quicker to ignore it. This is because
scholars like to leave no stone unturned in assessing the background to a
problem or event they are exploring. If they come to learn that a certain
bibliography is highly selective (in terms of topics covered, sources included,
dates embraced, geographical territory included) without good reason, other
than perhaps to promote a particular library collection or put it together
rapidly, they will want to turn to the more fundamental sources of information
in order to identify and assess material that was left out.
Elsewhere [6] I illustrated these
problems by likening them to the dangers of having a large series of maps of
differing scales when attempting to traverse a mountain range. It may be that
for much of the territory you can analyse the terrain, in order to plan your
route, down to very fine detail. However, collectively these maps are of
limited value if there is a small but seriously dangerous ridge along the route
not indicated on any of the maps because that land had not been properly
charted. The traveller may end up having been better starting from scratch and
doing the exploratory research themselves. In terms of the process of
collecting the information from all the overlapping sources, I likened it to trawling
the sea for tuna fish with a drift net. It, too, is of limited value if, in
order to guarantee catching the rare prized fish, you have to kill thousands of
dolphins and wipe out other unwanted species in the process. It is undertaking
all this basic groundwork to save the ultimate user time that is so time
consuming for the good bibliographer and why the likes of Stephen Ely in
compiling Padwick II spent years searching through obscure sources to
find very little that was additional to the earlier editions.
Also one is constantly torn between
depth and width as the main priority. Knowing that naïve users still appear to
be impressed most by sheer volume/size and judge a bibliographical work on any
omissions they can find, rather than on the true measures of bibliographical
scholarship, one is frequently tempted to go for width.
My personal experiences, views on
the state of existing bibliographical control of sporting literature, and
recommendations for the future are developed further in a forthcoming article
entitled 'Tales of a Sporting Bibliophile: Reflections on 24 years Documenting
the Literature of British Sport' (to be published in the Sports Historian).
Endnotes
1 See, for example, J. Dickinson,
'An Annotated Bibliography of Historical Writings Related to Physical Education
in National Professional Physical Education Journals and Proceedings in North
America in the Last Decade', M.S.thesis, University of Oregon, 1973; G. Bridge
(ed.) Rock Climbing in the British Isles 1894‑1970: A Bibliography of
Guide Books (London: 1971); P. Lovesey and T. McNab (eds.) A Guide to
Track and Field Literature, 1275‑1968 (London: Athletics Arena,
1969); R. W. Cox 'Publications on the History of Sport in the North West
(Cheshire, Cumbria and Lancashire)', Proceedings of One Day Workshop on the
History of Sport in the North West, ed. by M. Speak, University of
Lancaster, July, 1987; R. W. Cox (comp.) 'Annual Bibliography of Publications
on the History of Sport 1985/6', British Journal of Sports History, 4, 3
(December 1987), 351‑359; M. Shoebridge (comp.) Women in Sport: A
Select Bibliography (London: Mansell, 1987); R. W. Cox (comp.) Theses
and Dissertations on the History of Sport, Physical Education and Recreation
Accepted for Higher Degrees and Advanced Diplomas in British Universities, 1900‑1981
(Liverpool: Bibliographical Centre for the History of Sport and Physical
Education, 1982); Catalogue of the Alpine Club (London: The Alpine Club,
1982); 'Recent Publications by Members' (published periodically in the HISPA
Bulletin).
2 See footnote 1, page vii.
3 Unfortunately, it proved
impossible to differentiate 'England only' material from Great Britain and the
U.K. histories in general. Some publications had England in the title but
within the contents also included references to Scotland and Wales (this was
especially true of American works) whilst others used the term Britain but made
no reference to developments outside of England and perhaps Wales. This was
especially the case in some of the individual sport histories.
4 The problem of missing
bibliographic detail was particularly difficult in remote libraries and libraries with inaccessible stacks and where
catalogues of their collections contained only brief bibliographical details
such as author and/or title. In the case of Jersey, for example, the compiler
had access only to photocopied sections of the card catalogue forwarded by the
librarian. Although it was possible to visit Plumstead Library (see p. ?), the
microfiche catalogue contained details of only the author and title of works in
the sports collection. I could not expect, nor afford the time, for many of the
50,000 titles to be requested individually and brought from
the publicly inaccessible stack.
In many similar instances librarians kindly provided the additional information
on request, others had neither the time nor inclination to do so. Eventually,
it was decided that where locations were known to the compiler, no further time
could be justified in attempting to track down the remaining details,
especially if the bibliography was going to meet its publication deadline.
5 What many 'amateur bibliographers'
fail to realize, is that bibliography, as both an art and a science, has its
own criteria of scholarship. It has to have a place within the existing
bibliographical framework; it has to show that it has a purpose and how it fits
into the network; it therefore needs to set out its objectives clearly and
describe how it has been researched and compiled; it has to be complete within
its terms of reference and it has to divide the subject into useful discrete
parts, etc., Without the background information how is one to know how to use
it and how reliable it is in the information gathering process etc?. Whilst I
have recently declared my view that sports specific bibliographies and indexes
to large collections like the British Library are the way forward, I have also
illustrated the way in which bibliographies which fall between too many stools
actually exacerbates the problem of bibliographical control, ultimately causing
the academic researcher to have to search even further afield than he would
have had to do otherwise. This is because of all the cross checking required
with overlapping sources. If one is not already familiar with the literature of
bibliographical scholarship but wishes to learn more I recommend one reads D.
W. Kümmel Bibliographies: Their Aims and Methods, A. M. L. Robinson Systematic Bibliography
or R. Stokes The Function of Bibliography. There are also a number of
useful articles in the journal Bibliography Review. My own views on the
state of sports bibliography are reflected in 'Sports History Documentation ‑
the origins, objectives, methods and findings of the British Sports History
Bibliography Project and a blueprint for the future', International Journal
of the History of Sport, 9, 2 (August 1992), 252‑279, 'Subject Bibliographies:
Help or Hindrance to Comprehensive Literature searching?', British Journal
of Academic Librarianship, 7, 1 (September 1992), 17‑29, 'Ramblings
of a Bibliophile: Reflections on 21 years Documenting the Literature of British
Sports History'(forthcoming).
For
examples of good practice in bibliography I suggest you read my reviews of the
some of the following: E. W. Padwick A Bibliography of Cricket, British
Journal of Sports History, 2, 2 (September, 1985); E. Loder A
Bibliography of the History and Organisation of Horse
Racing and Thoroughbred Breeding in Great Britain and Ireland, British
Journal of Sports History, 2, 2 (September, 1985); F. Lake A
Bibliography of Archery, British Journal of Sports History, 2, 2
(September 1985), 331‑34; A. Grimshaw The Horse: A Bibliography of
publications, British Journal of Sports History, 2, 2 (September
1985).
6 'Bibliographical Control of Sports
Literature: Some Concerns of the Academic End User', Proceedings of the IX World Scientific Congress on Sports
Information, Rome, June 1993.