Real tennis literature and memorabilia collection to go under the hammer
Ewbank's Auctions to sell off vast collection of racket sports books and collectables
A substantial collection of real tennis literature and memorabilia is set to go under the hammer in Woking, Surrey next week on Tuesday, 24 June.
The collection belonged to Alan Chalmers and John Shneerson, the two most recent winners of the USCTA’s George Plimpton prize for Literary and Artistic Achievement. Chalmers collated the Tennis Bookshop website between 1988 and 2015, working as a specialist dealer in racket sport literature including lawn tennis, real tennis, rackets and squash. Shneerson has authored three books on real tennis, including Two Centuries of Real Tennis (1997), Real Tennis: Today and Yesterday (2015) and MCC: More than a Cricket Club: Real Tennis and Other Sports at Lord’s (2020).
Together, their collections will be auctioned by Ewbank’s Auctions in their Tennis Memorabilia Auction on Tuesday, 24 June at 12 noon. Bids for lots may be accepted in person, live on the internet or as a commission bid.
Lots in the auction include books, tournament programmes, signed photographs and memorabilia, mostly covering lawn tennis and real tennis. Items of note include a framed engraving of the French professional Jacques Edmond Barre (who was World Champion from 1829 to 1862 and worked for Emperor Napoleon III) and two Oxford University Tennis Court tokens (once used to pay for courts).
Several rackets will be auctioned as well, including an original Gray’s racket from 1955, a signed racket from Rob Fahey from his 2014 World Championship defense, rackets belonging to Wayne Davies and club rackets from Chicago and New York. Further lots include real tennis related jewellery, including earings and pendants featuring real tennis rackets.
Some of the most expensive items are expected to be a series of 18th century books, which have some early depictions of real tennis among their pages. These include both novels about French paumiers as well as instructional tomes describing racket and ball-making and how to play the game. At the other end of the scale, several lots feature collections of books from the 20th and 21st century, ranging club histories, biographies, cultural histories and encyclopædic works. This includes a large number of out-of-print books from Ronaldson Publications, the newest being Around the World in 50 Courts by Haven Pell.
Full auction listings are available from Ewbank’s online catalogue.
Disclosure: Real Tennis News has no affiliation with Ewbank’s Auctions nor Alan Chalmers or John Shneerson