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The Two Rarest Books on Tennis: Scaino and Sambuc

Book one: Tratto del Givoco della Palla, Antonio Scaino, 1555. This is the first book written about tennis, published in Italian in 1555. Antonio Scaino, and Italian priest, decicated the boook to his patron Alphonse d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. The book discusses five varient ball-games, including a soccer, but the treatment of the rules and method of playing tennis is much themost detailed and all Scaino's illustrations of tennis. It is believed that eleven copies exist. One of the other copies is in this auction and is being offered as lot number 406. Bound in vellum over over pasteboard, on spine is the titles letter in manuscipt. Also oncluded: Scaino on Tennis, P.A. Negretti, Second Edition, 1984. Limited to 100 copies, this slip-cased book is a translation of Tratto del Givoco della Palla. Book two: Emblemata et Aliquot Nummi AntiquaOperis, by Johannes Sambucus, 1566, Second Edition with over 200 emblematic woodcuts, including the first book illustration of a tennis match. Under the picture is a satirical poem in later the poet personifying and addressing the ball. Tennis had just come into fashion among the aristoctats of Vienna. As a physicial, Dr. Sambucus could not see the reason for playing indoors, when open fields were available. Apparently he made no allowance for those who have to dwell in cities. He pbjected to the stylish clothes of the dandies of the time as interefering wiht the fre e movement of the body. (from the Tennis Origins and Mysteries, Whitman.) The second editinn of the Emblemata contaisn 56 more emblems that that of the 1564 First Edition. Bound in Vellum over pasteboard, on spine the title lettered in manuscript. Ex. Ursus Rare Books Ltd. RESERVE

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