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A. G. SPALDING & BROS.
MAINTAIN THEIR OWN HOUSES FOR DISTRIBUTING THE
SPALDING
COMPLETE LINE OF
ATHLETIC GOODS
IN THE FOLLOWING CITIES
NEW YORK
Downtown-
124–128 Nassau St.
Uptown-
29–33 West 42d St.
NEWARK, N. J.
845 Broad Street
BOSTON, MASS.
141 Federal Street
CHICAGO
147–149 Wabash Ave.
ST. LOUIS, MO.
415 North Seventh St.
KANSAS CITY, MO.
1120 Grand Ave.
DENVER, COL.
1616 Arapahoe St.
SAN FRANCISCO
156–158 Geary St.
SEATTLE, WASH.
711 Second Ave.
LOS ANGELES, CAL.
435 South Spring St.
BUFFALO, N. Y.
611 Main Street
SYRACUSE, N. Y.
University Block
PITTSBURG, PA.
439 Wood Street
CINCINNATI, O.
119 East Fifth St.
CLEVELAND, O.
741 Euclid Ave.
COLUMBUS, O.
191 South High St.
MILWAUKEE, WIS.
379 East Water St.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
44 Seventh St., South
ST. PAUL, MINN.
386 Minnesota St.
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
1210 Chestnut Street
BALTIMORE, MD.
208 East Baltimore St.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
709 14th St., N.W.
DETROIT, MICH.
254 Woodward Ave.
LOUISVILLE, KY.
328 West Jefferson St.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND.
211 Massachusetts Ave.
ATLANTA, GA.
74 N. Broad Street
NEW ORLEANS, LA.
140 Carondelet St.
DALLAS, TEX.
355 Commerce St.
LONDON, ENG.
Three Stores
317–318,
High Holborn, W. C.
78, Cheapside
West End Branch
29, Haymarket, S.W.
BIRMINGHAM, ENG.
57, New Street
MANCHESTER, ENG.
4, Oxford St. and
1, Lower Moseley St.
EDINBURGH, SCOT.
3 South Charlotte St.
(Cor. Princes St.)
MONTREAL, P. Q.
443 St. James St.
TORONTO, ONT.
189 Yonge St.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
228 Clarence St.
Communications directed to A. G.
SPALDING & BROS., at any of the above
addresses, will receive prompt
attention.
THE SPALDING TRADE MARK
IS REGISTERED IN THE
UNITED STATES PATENT
OFFICE, ALSO IN 27
FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
INFRINGERS ARE WARNED.
THE SPALDING TRADE-MARK IS THE FOUNDATION OF THE
SPALDING BUSINESS
Spalding’s Athletic Library
[Illustration: A. G. SPALDING]
Anticipating the present tendency of the American people toward a
healthful method of living and enjoyment, Spalding’s Athletic Library
was established in 1892 for the purpose of encouraging athletics in
every form, not only by publishing the official rules and records
pertaining to the various pastimes, but also by instructing, until
to-day Spalding’s Athletic Library is unique in its own particular field
and has been conceded the greatest educational series on athletic and
physical training subjects that has ever been compiled.
The publication of a distinct series of books devoted to athletic sports
and pastimes and designed to occupy the premier place in America in its
class was an early idea of Mr. A. G. Spalding, who was one of the first
in America to publish a handbook devoted to athletic sports, Spalding’s
Official Base Ball Guide being the initial number, which was followed at
intervals with other handbooks on the sports prominent in the ’70s.
Spalding’s Athletic Library has had the advice and counsel of Mr. A. G.
Spalding in all of its undertakings, and particularly in all books
devoted to the national game. This applies especially to Spalding’s
Official Base Ball Guide and Spalding’s Official Base Ball Record, both
of which receive the personal attention of Mr. A. G. Spalding, owing to
his early connection with the game as the leading pitcher of the
champion Boston and Chicago teams of 1872–76. His interest does not
stop, however, with matters pertaining to base ball; there is not a
sport that Mr. Spalding does not make it his business to become familiar
with, and that the Library will always maintain its premier place, with
Mr. Spalding’s able counsel at hand, goes without saying.
The entire series since the issue of the first number has been under the
direct personal supervision of Mr. James E. Sullivan, President of the
American Sports Publishing Company, and the total series of consecutive
numbers reach an aggregate of considerably over three hundred, included
in which are many “annuals,” that really constitute the history of their
particular sport in America year by year, back copies of which are even
now eagerly sought for, constituting as they do the really first
authentic records of events and official rules that have ever been
consecutively compiled.
When Spalding’s Athletic Library was founded, seventeen years ago, track
and field athletics were practically unknown outside the larger colleges
and a few athletic clubs in the leading cities, which gave occasional
meets, when an entry list of 250 competitors was a subject of comment;
golf was known only by a comparatively few persons; lawn tennis had some
vogue and base ball was practically the only established field sport,
and that in a professional way; basket ball had just been invented;
athletics for the schoolboy—and schoolgirl—were almost unknown, and an
advocate of class contests in athletics in the schools could not get a
hearing. To-day we find the greatest body of athletes in the world is
the Public Schools Athletic League of Greater New York, which has had an
entry list at its annual games of over two thousand, and in whose
“elementary series” in base ball last year 106 schools competed for the
trophy emblematic of the championship.
While Spalding’s Athletic Library cannot claim that the rapid growth of
athletics in this country is due to it solely, the fact cannot be denied
that the books have had a great deal to do with its encouragement, by
printing the official rules and instructions for playing the various
games at a nominal price, within the reach of everyone, with the sole
object that its series might be complete and the one place where a
person could look with absolute certainty for the particular book in
which he might be interested.
In selecting the editors and writers for the various books, the leading
authority in his particular line has been obtained, with the result that
no collection of books on athletic subjects can compare with Spalding’s
Athletic Library for the prominence of the various authors and their
ability to present their subjects in a thorough and practical manner.
A short sketch of a few of those who have edited some of the leading
numbers of Spalding’s Athletic Library is given herewith:
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