[WRESTLING]. GALLAGHER, Dennis (1864 – 1951?). Scrapbook of wrestling ephemera from the career of Denny Gallagher, “Champion mixed wrestler of the World.” V.p., ca. 1880s–1900s. Folio scrapbook (13 1/3 x 8 ¼”), 115 leaves, containing handbills for wrestling matches, photos and advertising cards, contracts and signed agreements, postcards, letters and manuscripts, ephemera, and hundreds of clippings often with illustrations of wrestlers and strongmen. On leaf detached; occasional staining, but contents generally neat.The personal scrapbook of Buffalo, N.Y. wrestler Denny Gallagher, who wrestled in more than 1,000 matches in the United States, England, and Europe and “took the belt” from formidable contemporaries such as William Muldoon. This scrapbook documents Gallagher’s career in extensive detail, including his matches against James Quigley of the New York Police Department for the Police Championship, the Japanese wrestler Matsada Sorakichi, and Yusuf Ismail, “the Terrible Turk,” in one of Gallagher’s notable losses. A photograph of Gallagher’s 1883 Champion Police Gazette Medal Graeco-Roman Wrestler of America is included, as well as handbills and advertisements promoting his matches against various opponents for up to $1,000 in side bets in Graeco-Roman, catch-as-catch-can, and mixed wrestling. Gallagher is portrayed in the papers as a sort of Buffalo idol, and became the proprietor of a school of wrestling and boxing, a music-hall, and café-restaurant, and the scrapbook includes ephemera and calling cards from those venues. A fascinating trove of early American wrestling material.