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A Guide to the Wisden Almanack

Composed in 2005, helping Collectors for over a decade. Happy to answer any question, please ask. (wisdens@cridler.com)

Hi,

I have been collecting the Wisden Cricketers Almanack for a few years now and have enjoyed every minute of it, so much so I thought I would put a webpage together to share my experiences and to help out anyone who has any questions or is looking to start a Wisden collection.

I think the first thing to point out is that I am not a Wisden dealer, I buy books , usually in runs and sell the duplicates I accumulate or if I see a nice book that isn't too pricey Ill buy it and swap it for the one on my bookcase and sell on the other book.

Another reason for this site is that I have had a few scary experiences when it comes to prices and I have paid over the odds at times as I was not aware of the market value of a certain book.  The following  Wisden Valuations page may help you decide what to pay for a book. NB Anywhere you see a light blue button like the one below it will take you to the appropriate page.

When I started collecting, I was trying to collect back to 1976, my birth year, I'm an avid fan and statistician so the books are ideal for me but after collecting back to the 1976 mark someone sent me a 1950 Hardback as a present and so I had to go back to 50, I'm on 1897 now with a  few early ones thrown in!

If I was to offer 1 piece of advice and that would to the new collector, it would be to choose either to collect any version of the book (soft back, hard back, rebind) for each year or just to go all out for hardbacks (with DJs from 65) as I ended up being far too pedantic for my own good and ended up changing from strategy 1 to 2 after owning 1950 to date and decided to upgrade from the random linens I owned to all hardbacks (then to DJs!) which cost me a fortune, if you don't mind a yellow book then a brown book then a red rebind sat next to each other, the cheapest way is strategy 1. Although I'm terrible as my pre 1923 are all over the place!

If you see any banners like above, they are external adverts, feel free to follow a link, they generate small amounts of revenue which helps promote and improve this site.

Some facts I've picked up over the years that may help you out:

Issue 1 was 1864 - 1875 is by far the the rarest - Hardbacks started in 1896 - Linen (rather than paper) backs started in 1938 - Bat book marks were present in the paperbacks from 1933 to 1939 - Dust Jackets started in 1965 with 65 to 72 being pretty rare - 1916-1919 and 1938-1946 are rare due to the wars -1963 (100th edition) has tonnes of good stuff in it (page 82) about how many books have been printed and their styles etc.

We do have some spares at the moment - We are also happy to look for a Wisden for you  -   Or Sell any Wisdens You have for sale

We have a very active chat facility, that is available by clicking the button below for any further questions and answers you may have.

The Rare Ones

The most important part about collecting are knowing which books are rare, Wisden lost all its publication numbers before 1938 in a   fire in WW2 so some of the numbers are unknown, but just by watching the market for long enough you can tell the rare editions.

Surprisingly, the rarest book is the 1875 paperback (rumour has it Wisden was going bankrupt at the time) as apposed to the first edition which is believed to be the second rarest paperback, 1869 is also pretty rare.   Another rare book is the 1896 Hardback - The First Hardback.

Other rare editions are the books that where produced in the Wars , the 1916 Hardback being the rarest 20th century book although some debate that 1919 is rarer.

The 1917-1919 & 1940 - 1945 books are known to be hard to find, especially the Hardbacks.  

Unknown to myself 1969-1972 are the rarest books since 1949

The Type of Books

The type of books are as follows : Original Paperbacks (1864 to date) , Original Hardbacks (1896 to 1964) , Original Hardbacks with Dust Jackets (1964 +). There are also rebound books where the spine has collapsed due to age. Rebinds come in three categories, rebound with the original covers , rebound without the covers (and sometimes adverts) and a Publishers Rebind (i.e. a book that Wisden themselves have rebound). Facsimiles exist (although I'd like to know more about them, if anyone can help) which are reprints of the Originals (usually the rare books), be aware that facsimile Dust Jackets exist also (it states this on the back page of the DJ). Recently a Big Version has been produced and leather bound books can also be found from the mid 90's (both are limited edition sets). 

My Collection - SEE PICTURES OF ALL OUR BOOKS HERE

Over a few years I have built up my collection and in 2008 I sold the family silver (some Rio Tinto shares) to purchase some of the rarer books. My collection is now just 3 books short of a full set. The next step is to replace the 20th Century Rebinds and then the books with a fake spine, then to increase my hardback collection. The individual books within the cabinet are: 1864 Rebound without covers, signed (and once owned) by John Arlott, 1865 Rebound without covers, 1868 Rebound without covers,1870 Rebound without covers, 1871&2 Brown Rebinds & gorgeous from Auty Museum - 1873 & 1874 Rebound without covers, 1875 Rebound without covers and some missing pages, 1876 Rebind with covers, 1877 Rebound without covers, 1878 Rebind with rear cover, 1879 Rebound with covers, 1880&1 Original Paperbacks , 1882 - 1886 Plum Warners books tidily changed to include facsimile spine and covers (1885 is signed by PW), 1887 Paperback with Facs Soine, 1888 to 1889 & 1894 like 1871 (i.e. from Auty Collection - Brown Rebind No Covers) - 1890 & 1891 Facsimile Spines & Covers, 1892,1893 & 1895 Original Paperbacks and also an 1895 which is a special (alleged) publishers rebind to look like an original hardback, it is nice and quirky as the Hardbacks didn't start until 1896. 1896 to 1899 & 1903 have facsimile spines, 1900/1/4 are my first hardbacks, 1902 is an original paperback and 1905 to 1911 & 1916 are Original Paperbacks -1912 to 1940 Original Hardbacks - 1941 Original Hardback (signed by Hubert Preston a future editor) - 1942 to 1964 Original Hardback - 1965 to date Original Hardback with DJs all pristine. That is 99 Hardbacks and 142 Original Years.

Our Catalogues - Selling on behalf of members.

I am very proud of all the books we have managed to place via our Catalogue, these include a very rare set of hardbacks ranging from 1908 to date - including all WW1 - plus a few early hardbacks and many paperbacks. If you have any books for sale the catalogue is a very good way to reach several hundred Wisden fanatics.

Click Here for the latest Catalogue.

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