THE LONSDALE LIBRARY

DEDICATION TO

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES

&

EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION

BY

The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Lonsdale, K.G., G.C.V.O., D.L.

IT is with a deep sense of the honour conferred on the Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes that the Editors have received permission to dedicate its volumes to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. Their first wish is to express their gratitude for being allowed to associate with the Library the name of an acknowledged leader of British Sport in the highest and best meaning of the word.

It is now a long time since a Library of volumes on Sport and Games was first put before the public. During these many years great changes have taken place, in men and in methods; how numerous and how great those changes have been, it needs no more than a glance at the text and illustrations of the older existing volumes to discover. The traditions, the customs, the guiding principles of the great sports and games doubtless remain; but as the years go on new discoveries are made, new developments follow, new methods are found to be successful. In the process of time, these demand notice and explanation.

It would not be difficult to give examples of many such changes. A few may suffice. To take the sport of shooting first, even twenty years ago almost nothing was known of the nature and causes of what was vaguely called “disease” in grouse. The knowledge which research and examination have given us of these to-day has profoundly affected methods of moor management. Again, in regard to fishing, it is only of recent years that we have been able to piece together the life history of the salmon by means of the reading of scales; we have learned much of the powers of vision of fish; and there have been many improvements in the manufacture of rods and tackle. To come to games. In cricket there have been alterations in the rules, fields are placed differently, modes of batting and of bowling are not what they used to be; in golf, changes in the standards of clubs and of the ball have in turn altered standards of play; and the lawn-tennis of modern Wimbledon is a different game from that of a past generation.

It is believed, therefore, that the Lonsdale Library should fill a gap. Its aim is to help and to instruct. It is intended in the first place for the beginner who wishes to learn all that the written word can teach him of his chosen subject, and to obtain authoritative advice on gear and in practice. But it is also hoped that the more experienced sportsman may find matter of interest in the pages of the Library, either in the bringing together of newly discovered facts or new suggestions for study, or in the comparison of other sportsmen’s or players’ opinions with his own. No pains have been spared to make the text and the illustrations as full and representative as possible, and if the various volumes succeed in their double appeal to the tyro and to the expert, the Library will have fulfilled the purpose of its Editors, which is, to make it complete.