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xvi, 492, [4] index pp. Illustrated with engraved allegorical frontispiece and 4 folding plates at the end of the book. (12mo) early boards, paper spine label with title hand written in ink. First Edition.

An important work with an 18th century description of baseball, beginning on page 78: "Ball mit Freystaten (oder des Englische Base-ball)." This description is nearly seven pages. The author describes 15 different types of ball games in this first edition, including Thorball, Schnurball, Fangball, and Prellball. Johann Christoph Friedrich Gutsmuths is considered the founder of modern physical education and gymnastics, and he introduced physical education to the Schnepfenthal Institution. "Gutsmuths's documentation of the game is an important contribution to baseball history, because it is the strongest surviving evidence of an ancient family of European ball games that may have influenced the inception of baseball in England" (David Block, Baseball Before We Knew It, 2005, p 182). The first description of rounders or any other baseball-like game did not appear in English until 1828. See also The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, 2011.