"The Game of Squash" 1901 Miles, Eustace

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MILES, Eustace

Eustace Hamilton Miles (1868–1948): was an English athlete and author, known for his success in racquets, real tennis, … Read more MILES, Eustace

Eustace Hamilton Miles (1868–1948): was an English athlete and author, known for his success in racquets, real tennis, and squash.

He coached Jay Gould II in America and was the first non-American winner of the US Championship.

[131] pp.

J.F. Taylor & Co New York

1901

w/ tobacco suede leather boards

6 1/2" x 4 3/8

"The Game Of Squash" is a book written by Eustace Hamilton Miles and first published around 1900, offering a comprehensive guide to the sport with instructions on history, rules, techniques, and strategies. Miles, a prominent figure in racquets sports who coached in the US and became a champion, detailed the game using illustrations and diagrams to explain racket handling, serving, and shot-making.

Ex-libris: Clarence Cecil Pell (1885-1964)

Signed on inside front cover panel

Clarence C. Pell was a retired stockbroker and a noted racquets player.

Mr. Pell was a descendant of the Pells who were hereditary lords of the manor of Pelham under a grant from King Charles II and who sold part of the land in 1688 to Huguenot settlers, who then founded New Rochelle. In the deed the city was obliged to provide the family annually with "one fatt calfe."

He was a younger brother of Herbert Claiborne Pell, a former United States Representative from New York and a diplomat, and an uncle of Senator Claiborne Pell, Democrat of Rhode Island. John H. G. Pell, financier and historian and former chancellor of Long Island University, is a cousin.

He was educated at the Pomfret School and at Harvard, where he was graduated in 1908 and was captain of the hockey team. He became a stockbroker in New York, retiring in 1929.

In World War I Mr. Pell served overseas as an aviator, holding a captaincy in what was then the aviation section of the Army Signal Corps.

U.S. Champion 21 Times

The war interrupted his record as a perennial racquets champion of the United States. He held the singles title 12 times between 1915 and 1933. Paired with Stanley G. Mortimer, he won the doubles championship nine times. In 1925 he won the British singles championship, the only foreigner to have achieved this.

The scene of many of his triumphs was the Racquet and Tennis Club in New York, of which he was president from 1933 to 1942. He was also for many years a governor of the Piping Rock Club, Locust Valley, L.I.

Racquets is usually played on a roofed court 80 feet long and 40 feet wide with walls 40 feet high. The players stand facing one of the narrow walls known as the front wall and hit the ball with a gut‐strung bat or racket at each other by rebound off the front, as in squash or handball.

The Game of Squash, by Eustace Miles, M.A. New York, J.F Taylor & Co. 1st US edition. small 8vo (16x11 cm). XX, 131pp, plus advertisements (sports equipment). With the very unusual, suede leather cover, with title in relief. Photographic plates and text illustrations throughout. Eustace Hamilton Miles (1868-1948) was one of the greatest amateur racket sports champions of the early 20 th century. During his peak, he held championship titles in all the various court games, most notably Racquets (1902) and Real Tennis (9 times between 1899 and 1910; winner of the silver medal at the Olympic Games of 1908). Although for squash at that early time there were no official championships in the UK, he would certainly have ranked amongst the top players of the era at that game too. But in squash, he will probably be best remembered as the author of the first ever book on the game. Published in 1901, it predates the next book in the squash bibliography by no less than 25 years. At the time this book came out, squash was still very much regarded as a mere pastime for schoolboys, for whom it was considered useful practice for the more serious sport of Racquets. There were no standard squash rules laid down yet, nor was there a standard size for courts. Very often it was still being played outdoors, under haphazard circumstances. Miles too, although providing plans for an enclosed indoor court in the book, suggests that even a simple outdoor court with only one wall can provide a good game; and that rainpipes, windows etc. could be used to add extra scoring opportunities. So, the book provides a unique insight into the game when squash was still in its formative stages. This is the rare US 1st edition, which was published in the same year as the UK edition. The author was living in the US at the time the book was published, so it’s unclear which book came out first. The covers of both books are very different: this US book has the remarkable suede leather cover, with the title in relief. In accordance with its early publication date, and the fact that relatively few people played the game at the time, the book is RARE indeed. It is seldom that a copy comes onto the market, and I know of several collectors who have been trying to acquire a copy, some for more than 20 years. It is the most sought-after book in the squash bibliography. A great chance to acquire this rare piece of squash history! See less