PBA Galleries

[4], 50, [2] pp. Copper-engraved frontispiece of the Far and Sure emblem with Latin quote and a copper golfing vignette on the top of the first page (taken from a 14th century manuscript book of prayer). 20.1x13 cm. (8x5¼"), original tan front wrapper mounted on board, re-backed with later cloth, and later rear board, front wrapper with engraved coat of arms of the Thistle Golf Club, housed in a green morocco backed cloth clamshell box, gilt-lettered spine, recession in box lined with gilt border, with ribbon. First Edition.

With a presentation inscription to an individual, whose name has been subsequently removed/erased from the top of the front wrapper and signed in period ink, "from an old Member." The first prose book solely devoted to golf. Contains over fifty pages of quite substantial information, including: 11 pages of rules, a list of members of The Thistle, hole lengths (at the time it was only a five hole course), and the rest (a majority) being a history of the game of golf. The first book devoted to golf, The Goff by Thomas Mathison (1743), a short 22 page mock epic poem, is the only title pre-dating this, Cundell’s Thistle Golf Club rule-book. Considered one of only six books of printed rules published prior to 1830; Cundell’s little gem is described in Clapcott’s Rules of the Ten Oldest Golf Clubs, where he asserts that “these rules help to show what members of newly instituted clubs, unfettered by past codes, considered to be the accepted laws of the game.” Donovan & Murdoch state: “We know now that it [Rules of the Thistle Golf Club] is a very important contribution to the literature of golf and perhaps of more importance than the earlier poetry [ie. The Goff].” Donovan & Jerris also write: “The first publication to attempt a history of the game…A copy of Cundell’s manuscript was reviewed by Sir Walter Scott prior to publication, who found any additions or revisions to the text unnecessary [or nothing to add or change due to it’s excellence] (ref. Scott’s letter of June 9, 1824, as reprinted in an 1896 issue of Badminton Magazine). The historical section was reprinted in its entirety in 1875 in Robert Clark’s Golf: A Royal and Ancient Game” – D&J C29350; D&M 210.