Vintage & Collectible Sports Books

Hardcover. NY, Doubleday , 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 118 pages, b&w photographs by John Ranard. A very clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Century Co., 2nd, 1911, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 453 pages. Hardcover with no dust jacket. A unique record of a sportsman's year among the northern most tribe. A rousing account of hunting bears, walrus, narwhals, and more in the Polar region of Alaska.. (C) 1910, b&w photos by author. Light stain to bottom front cover, otherwise VG.

Hardcover. Wash, D.C., Dept of Commerce, 1st, 1906, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 488 pages, 53 full page plates (30 are fine chromolithographs), 110 text-figures. Fold-out map. Sound, tight, clean. The work contains the following monographs: Evermann - The Golden Trout of the Southern High Sierras (3 chromolithograph plates of trout); Sumner - The Physiological Effects upon Fishes of changes in the density and salinity of water; MacFarland - Opisthobranchiate Mollusca from Monterey Bay, California, and Vicinity (10 chromolithograph plates); Moore - Hirudinea and Oligochaeta in the Great Lakes (1 chromolithograph plate); The Fishes of Samoa: Description of the Species Found in the Archipelago, with a Provisional Check-List of the Fishes of Oceania (16 chromolithograph plates). The final monograph by David Starr Jordan on "The Fishes of Samoa"Several small holes to cloth along spine. PLEASE NOTE: DUE TO SIZE & WEIGHT, DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. Minocqua, WI, Willow Creek Press, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 200 pages. Hardcover. (SIGNED BY AUTHORS AND PHOTOGRAPHER). In excellent shape. Gilt title on spine. B/w illustrations throughout. Binding tight, clean inside and out.

Hardcover. Del Mar, CA, Tehabi Books, 1st Edition, 1995, Book: Near Fine, Dust Jacket: Near Fine, 168 pages. Hardcover. INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR. Color illustrations throughout. Dust Jacked unclipped, excellent. Gray cloth bound cover boards, design blind-stamped on front cover board, in beautiful condition. Pages clean and unmarked, Binding tight. Spine straight. Looks nearly new. A collection of action-packed stories from the finest ski writers and spectacular photography from the foremost ski photographers.

Barre, VGT, Barre Publishers, 1st, 1971, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover. Ltd. to 1,000 copies. #110. SIGNED BY ILLUSTRATOR MICHAEL MCCURDY. In slipcase. A very clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Ticknor and Fields, 1st, 1860, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 283 pages. Hardcover. Stated Author's Edition. Brick colored end papers scarred & chipped. Small discard stamp on title-page - ex-library with few markings. Short tear to page 7 of preface. Original embossed brown cloth, gilt lettering on spine faded. Uncommon book detailing the hunting of Indian animals, including man-eaters, panthers, bears, buffalo and wild elephants.

Hardcover. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1st Edition, 1892, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 248 pages. Hardcover. B/w illustrations throughout. Light brown cloth cover boards, with 3 color plus gilt illustration on front cover, title in gilt on spine (slightly faded). Original owner's name on front flyleaf with date of acquisition (1893). Split at gutter at page after flyleaf. Binding still very good. Pages unmarked, with some slight tanning.

Softcover. NY, Doubleday/Dolphin Books, 1st., 1978, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, pictorial wrappers, unnumbered pages including text by Pete Hamill & many black-and-white photographic illustrations of boxers taken in New York's boxing arenas and gyms by George Bennett. Light edgewear, rubbing. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Duffield & Co., 1st, 1920, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 146 pages. B&W photos. Author was a Gold Medal Winner in the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. Yellow cloth covers with light soil, edgewear to boards. VERY SCARCE.

Hardcover. Hamden, CT, Shoe String Press, 1st , 1960, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 168 pages, B&W photos. Hunting bears & wolves in the Arctic. Scarce hunting book. Dust jacket with light edgewear.

Hardcover. Chicago, IL, NTC Publishing Group, 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 256 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. A unique collection of photographs offers an intimate, behind-the-scenes visual chronicle of baseball players from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s

Softcover. Paris, Arthaud, 1st, 1951, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 111 pages, illustrated with b&w and color gravure photos. SIGNED BY BOTH HERZOG AND ICHAC on front fly leaf. With a double-page map laid in. Softcover very good with a color illustrated dust jacket with light edgewear.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 260 pages. Samuel Colt first patented his Colt revolver in 1835 and thereby redefined the architecture of handguns. This book is the first to present in detail the evolution of his most famous invention and to document the unsurpassed Colt firearms collections held by the Wadsworth Atheneum. Edited by Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser. With essays and entries by Carolyn C. Cooper and Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser. Index.

Hardcover. New York, Viking Studio, 1st, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 192 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. A gallery of the most compelling images from baseball's history. Beginning with a team portrait of the Cincinnati Red Stockings taken in 1869, the books charts the sport through the Black Sox scandal, when giants like Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb and Shoeless Joe Jackson roamed the field; all through the Babe Ruth years, WWII, the Negro League and Jackie Robinson's first day in the major leagues. As well as the many famous famous, many unknowns are also shown with the criteria for inclusion being the artistic merit of the photograph.

Hardcover. San Francisco , Chronicle Books , 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 127 pages. Hardcover. Extensive b&w photography throughout. Illustrated frontispiece. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. Hoff's skill as a photographer is shown plainly throughout this book. He was known for using very little film, which increases an objective appreciation of his skill; he understood boxing and could anticipate moments of significance and arrange them to create technically superb photographs, without making dozens of pictures. The boxers depicted in this volume are now historical figures, but so are these photographs, of which Hoff is perhaps the best example. Live television coverage has changed the nature of boxing photography irrecoverably since the days when Hoff was photographing the sport. This volume is important as a historical document, then, from two angles - firstly as a record of what many perceive as the golden age of boxing, but also as an archive of amazing photography skills which are now impossible for photographers to learn, let alone master. A must for fans of both serious photography and boxing.

Hardcover. Kansas City, Andrew McMeel Publishing, 2nd, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 159 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. SIGNED BY SCOTT HAMILTON ON BOOKPLATE OPPOSITE Title Page. Dust jacket shows light rubbing and edge wear, internally tight and crisp. Color photographs throughout.

Hardcover. Yokyo Japan, Tokyo Lawn Tennis Club, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 168 pages. Hardcover. Color and b/w illustrations throughout. Signed letter by Chairman of the Board presenting book to previous owner inserted. Very clean inside and out. Covered by plastic bookcover/sleeve.

Softcover. np, self-published, 1975, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 32-page stapled booklet. A detailed report on the 1974 races in Scotland for the British American Cup.

Hardcover. NY, Doubleday , 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 118 pages, b&w photographs. A very clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Derrydale Press, reprint, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 297 pages. Hardcover with no dust jacket. Blue leather covers with gilt lettering. Unnumbered limited to 500 copies. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Derrydale Press, reprint, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 351 pages. Hardcover with no dust jacket. Blue leather covers with gilt lettering. Unnumbered limited to 500 copies. Clean, tight copy.

Softcover. Barre MA, National Ski Association of America, 1951, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 256 pages. First Edition Original pictorial staple-bound wrappers. Light cover wear, no writing or marks on pages, solid binding, b&w illustrations, many great period ads. Book has a mild musty odor. Clean copy.

Softcover. Barre MA, National Ski Association Of America, 1952, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 256 pages, b&w illustrations. Numerous ads. Covers show wear, rear cover with crease, small stain. Otherwise clean. Mild musty odor.

Hardcover. NY, The Outing Publishing Co., 1st, 1907, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, decorated blue cloth stamped in black, purple and white. 236 pages in very good condition. Light fade to spine. Illustrated with photographs and sketches. Frontispiece in color by Fernand Lungren and many other illustrations from photographs, etc. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Brattleboro VT, Stephen Daye Press, 1st, 1935, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, black cloth with white lettering on spine, b&w illustrations, 207 pages, including a bibliography. A history of skiing is reviewed from Prehistory, the Ski in Literature, Skiing Becomes Sport, and Competitions and Records; a world-wide discussion by each country and area follows, all continents represented; Norwegian skii equipment manufacture is mentioned; facilities, conditions and the sport standing in each country are evaluated. Previous owner's signature on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Chicago,IL, Rand, McNally & Company Publishers, Early reprint, 1892, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 580 pages. Hardcover. Color and b/w illustrations including full color frontispiece (see image). Blue cloth cover boards, gilt title on spine and front cover board with navy blue illustration. Soil and light chipping and fraying to spine and bottom edge, as well as top of front cover board (see image). Tanning to pages and boards from age. Very early reprint.

Hardcover. Exton PA, Schiffer Publishing, 1st, 1983, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 270 pages. Describes decoys made for some of the seven hundred varieties of ducks, geese, and shorebirds found in New Jersey and offers profiles of major decoy makers

Softcover. Jefferson NC, McFarland & Company, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 157 pages. In late 1922, Judge Emil Fuchs purchased the woebegone Boston Braves--primarily to bring his ailing friend, Christy Mathewson, back into the game he loved so much. A true fan, Judge Fuchs poured his fortune into the team, intent on giving Boston's long-suffering National League fans a winner. He introduced Ladies' Days, contracted to have Braves games broadcast on radio, and successfully campaigned to allow Sunday baseball in Boston. Moreover, he gave the fans a competitive team, climaxed by the Braves' dramatic pennant race with the New York Giants in 1933.

Hardcover. Shrewsbury UK, Quiller Press, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, Profusely illustrated with color photographs of fox hunts. Detailing the best of hunting both in Britain and America. Clean, bright copy in an unclipped dust jacket. SIGNED/INSCRIBED on front fly leaf "With all best wishes from Jim Meads/03".

Hardcover. Romney WV, self-published, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 460 pages. Large format with many color photos. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED by author on title page. #314 of 1000 copies.

Hardcover. Spanish Fork UT, Hillcrest Publications, 1st, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 199 pages including an index of illustrations, appendices, text and extensive black and white photographs by Richard M. Grave as well as a section of 15 pages of color photographs. With an introduction by Raymond E. Baldwin. Edited by Ruth Wolfe. SIGNED BY MERKT on front fly leaf. "The first biography to document the life and work of the remarkable Charles E. "Shang" Wheeler (1872-1949), whose prize winning decoys set a standard of excellence equaled by few and surpassed by none." In a dust jacket that has light sun fading to spine.

Hardcover. Wiley, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 320 pages. Having signed the most lucrative contract in NHL history with the Washington Capitals, Alexander Ovechkin, at 24, is an undisputed hockey legend. In the mold more of a rock star than hockey player, Ovechkin courts the limelight, is never shy with his opinions, and, in a sport that thrives on the collective culture of the team-Ovechkin is an iconoclast who flouts convention, while loving the game. In The Ovechkin Project, veteran hockey writers Damien Cox and Gare Joyce trace his elite sports pedigree, his role representing Russia in the World Juniors, and how since entering the NHL, he's taken his team from worst to first in their division, and the hockey world by storm. Clean copy.

Hardcover. University of Nebraska Press, 1st, 2019, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 344 pages. Almost Yankees is a poignant and nostalgic narrative of the lives and travails of Minor League Baseball, focusing on the 1981 championship season of the New York Yankees' Triple-A farm club, the Columbus Clippers. That year was especially notable in the annals of baseball history as the year Major League Baseball went on strike in midseason. When that happened, the Clippers were suddenly the best team in baseball and found themselves the focus of national media attention. Many of these Minor Leaguers sensed this was their last, best chance to make an impression and fulfill their dreams to one day reach the majors. The Clippers' raw recruits, prospects, and Minor League veterans responded to this opportunity by playing the greatest baseball of their lives on the greatest team most of them would ever belong to. Then the strike ended, leaving them to return to their ordinary aspirational lives and to be just as quickly forgotten.

Hardcover. NY, Ronald Press , 1st, 1959, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket. 361 pages. Many b&w photos, illustrations. The author was head baseball coach at Yale University. Owner's name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, A Mountain Lion Book / Hearst Books, 3rd pr., 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, b&w illustrations and photos, 223 pages. More than two hundred photographs comprehensively illustrate pitching technique from grip to follow through in a guide that details the Cy Young Award-winning pitcher's conditioning regimen and his ideas on mental preparedness. Includes contribution by Nolan Ryan, Steve Rogers, Steve Carlton, Mario Soto. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Pharos Books, 1st, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Baseball players who have had only one great season throughout their careers discuss the events, circumstances, and glory of the limelight, and their return to mediocrity. In a century and a half of baseball history, many journeyman players have enjoyed a single season--or a partial season--of greatness. Fedo ( The Man from Lake Wobegon ) focuses here on 11 men who achieved just such success from 1945 to 1970. Among them are: pitcher Ned Garver, who garnered 20 of the St. Louis Browns' lowly total of 54 victories in 1951; and Bob Hazle, who joined the Milwaukee Braves late in the 1957 season and helped them win the pennant by hitting over .400 for two months. Others include Willard Marshall of the New York Giants, Walt Dropo of the Boston Red Sox, and Wes Parker of the Los Angeles Dodgers (probably the most complex and unusual of the interviewees). As might be anticipated, none of the former players can explain how he came by short-term brilliance, nor how he lost it--but the concept of the book is nonetheless intriguing. 169 pages. Clean copy.

Softcover. NY, Workman Publishing, 1st, 1979, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 288 pages, b&w illustrations and photos throughout. INSCRIBED BY PHILLIPS on the front fly leaf. Covers show light wear, clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Warner Books, 4th pr., 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 258 pages, illustrations. INSCRIBED BY RILEY on the front fly leaf: "To Edward/Best Regards- Hoping your season will be as successful as ours/ 88 Pat Riley". Clean copy.

Softcover. Sheffield UK, Vertebrate Publishing Ltd , 1st, 2019, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 425 pages, color photos. In 1965 Tony Howard made the first British ascent of Norway's Troll Wall. He went on to found Troll Climbing Equipment but never stopped exploring. Quest into the Unknown, his autobiography, covers his extensive travels in North Africa, the Middle East, Scandinavia, Canada and much more. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Rodale, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. While The Big O: My Life, My Times, My Game will not disappoint basketball purists longing for Oscar Robertson's play-by-play of favorite games, the attraction of this autobiography is Robertson's perspective on the evolution of the sport and on the racial struggles that were the context of his formative years. Called by many basketball experts the greatest all-around player ever, Robertson earned an astonishing array of honors including an Olympic gold medal, 12 NBA All-Star appearances, the NBA Rookie of the Year award, and the 1964 NBA MVP award. Most remarkably, Robertson remains the only player in basketball history with a triple-double season (double-digit averages for scoring, rebounds, and assists).While Robertson could have easily candy-coated this impressive record for his retrospective, he devotes large sections of his book to the racial battles he faced off court, and his final chapters recount his controversial efforts as an NBA union leader to create free agency, a pension plan, and disability protection for players. In telling his life story, he lays bare the racism and mistreatment he suffered at the hands of individuals and institutions throughout his career, from the Mayor of Indianapolis and Cincinnati University to the NBA and CBS Sports. At times, his critiques can seem excessive (e.g. his discussions of the distortions in the film Hoosiers, while interesting, are repeated a bit too often), and some sections (like his attempts to compare himself to contemporary players) border on self-indulgence. Yet, he seems justified in arguing that his achievements--largely accomplished on second-rate teams, against a back-drop of unprecedented racial strife, and before the modern era of sports-media saturation--are easily underrepresented. In the end, The Big O offers a complex, human portrait to complement a spectacular sports career.

Hardcover. NY, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket with light edgewear, 304 pages. The 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers won 33 consecutive regular season games on their way to a championship. The team, built around future Hall-of-Famers Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West, was coached by a third Hall member, Bill Sharman. Rosen, author of five novels and coauthor, with Phil Jackson, of More Than a Game (2001), traces the team from training camp through the start of the next season. His dual focal points are Sharman and Chamberlain. Sharman, who played with Bill Russell in Boston, convinced Chamberlain to play a more Russell-like style, emphasizing passing and teamwork. Rosen provides background for all the principals, context for games in the streak, as well as an account of the team's play-off run to the championship. This is wonderful reading for NBA history buffs, replete with anecdotes, humor, and revealing profiles. Mild soil, shelf wear, no markings.

Hardcover. NY, Random House , 2nd pr., 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 421 pages. Taylor offers a vivid account of the fledgling days of the National Basketball Association and the intense competition between two of its biggest early stars: Bill Russell (of the Boston Celtics) and Wilt Chamberlain (of the Philadelphia 76ers). While both players were dominant men who anchored their respective teams, their personalities differed greatly. The quiet, reflective Russell turned a serendipitous showing in front of a scout into a legendary career largely through willpower and hard work, while the outgoing Chamberlain was a much more naturally gifted athlete whose skills drew attention and offers while he was barely a teenager. Taylor highlights this distinction, asking, "[C]ould determination trump talent?" Along with examining the physical and psychological battles between the two, Taylor depicts the NBA's raucous nature in the 1950s and '60s, when fights between players were frequent, and the brash Celtics coach Red Auerbach was routinely pelted with rotten tomatoes, lit cigars and eggs. Looking at everything, from each player's private demons to the racially charged era in which they competed, Taylor's book is by turns an intimate profile and a spirited look at the foundation of modern professional basketball. Mild soiling to text block, no markings.

Hardcover. NY, Harper, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. The Glory Game recreates in breathtaking detail the 1958 National Football League Championship Game between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts, which many football fans feel was "The Greatest Game Ever Played." This first-hand, field level, "behind-the-helmet" account by ex-Giant Hall of Famer and longtime "Monday Night Football" broadcaster Frank Gifford brings back to life all the sights and sounds of the momentous contest that changed football forever, and offers vivid, indelible portraits of the legendary players--including Sam Huff, Andy Robustelli, Art Donovan, Lenny Moore, and Raymond Berry. The Giants-Colts clash of '58 was truly The Glory Game--and now readers can relive it in all its glory. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Contemporary Books, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 398 pages. From its inauspicious beginnings through its improbable Super Bowl victories and its ultimate demise, the American Football League had a colorful and sometimes bizarre ten-year history that will not soon be forgotten. Going Long takes you back to that thrilling decade with the men who made the AFL--and who made it great. In this unique oral history, 170 voices come together to tell the unbelievable story of that maverick league, a rollicking tale of eight teams that refused to die.In 1959, the NFL had just a dozen teams, with only two located west of the Mississippi River. For forty years, it had enjoyed total dominance over the gridiron, tackling rival franchises and knocking them out of the game. But a revolution was coming to American football, and it all began with a man named Lamar Hunt, the Texas millionaire who desperately wanted a league of his own. With a team of enthusiastic investors, Hunt fired what he later called "the first cannon shot in what turned out to be the pro football war." It was a war that would rage on for ten rough-and-tumble years.Flavored with wild (and often ribald) anecdotes, inside stories, personal interviews, and never-before-told material, Going Long brings the incredible story of the upstart AFL to life through the words of the players, coaches, owners, and others who lived it--including Joe Namath, Mike Ditka, Bubba Smith, Roger Staubach, Pat Summerall, Curt Gowdy, and many others. Hearkening back to a simpler time in sports, this behind-the-scenes true story reveals the origins of the modern game we know today and how it all began with a fight to the death for professional football supremacy.

Hardcover. NY, Crown/Archetype, 1st, 2018, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. To tell this story, acclaimed journalists Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew and Dan Klores embarked on a groundbreaking mission to interview a staggering lineup of basketball trailblazers. For the first time hundreds of legends, from Kobe, Lebron and Steph Curry to Magic Johnson, Dr. J and Jerry West, spoke movingly about their greatest passion. Former NBA commissioner David Stern and iconic coaches like Phil Jackson and Coach K opened up like never before. Those who shattered glass ceilings, from Bill Russell and Yao Ming to Cheryl Miller and Lisa Leslie, explained what it really took to lay claim to their place in the game. At once a definitive oral history and something far more revelatory and life affirming, Basketball: A Love Story is the defining untold oral history of how basketball came to be, and what it means to those who love it. Clean, unmarked copy.

Hardcover. NY, Harper, 1st, 2013, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 431 pages, b&w and color illustrations. For most of his life, Julius Erving has been two men in one. There is Julius, the bright, inquisitive son of a Long Island domestic worker who has always wanted to be respected for more than just his athletic ability, and there is Dr. J, the cool, acrobatic showman whose flamboyant dunks sent him to the Hall of Fame and turned the act of jamming a basketball through a hoop into an art form. In many ways, Erving's life has been about the push and pull of Julius and The Doctor. It is Dr. J who has stories to tell of the wild days and nights of the ABA in the 1970s, and of being the seminal figure who transformed basketball from an earthbound and rigid game into the creative, free-flowing aerial display it is today. He has a long list of signature plays - he's famous for winning the first dunk contest in 1976 with a jam on which he lifted off from the foul line, and he made a miraculous layup against the Lakers on which he soared behind the backboard before reaching back in to flip the ball in on the other side, with one hand. He inspired a generation of dunkers, including Michael Jordan, to express their improvisational talents. But Julius wasn't always as graceful and in control as Dr. J. Erving had a pristine image throughout his career and early retirement, but he was far from a perfect man. Here he gives detailed accounts of some of the personal problems he faced -- or created -- behind the scenes, including the adulterous affair with sports writer Samantha Stephenson, which led to the birth of his daughter, professional tennis player Alexandra Stephenson.Though his marriage survived that infidelity, the death of Erving's 20-year-old son Cory in 2000 in a tragic accident proved too much for the union to bear. Erving paints a raw, heartbreaking picture of the dissolution of his marriage, as his wife Turquoise began to blame him for his refusal to be paralyzed by grief for as long as she was. Their intense arguments came to a head when Erving stepped out of the shower one day to find his wife holding a lamp in one hand and a vase in the other, ready for a physical confrontation. "I knew somebody was going to get hurt, and it wasn't going to be me," he says. He packed a suitcase and he and Turquoise never lived under the same roof again.

Hardcover. NY, Sterling Publishing, 1st, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 274 pages. A brilliant array of major league baseball uniforms from 1900-1991 crowds the pages of this unique sports history. With its high proportion of full-color photographs, it's an invaluable resource for long-standing veterans of the game as well as recently converted devotees. The evolution of uniforms is fascinating to peruse. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Guilford CT, The Lyons Press, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, price-clipped dust jacket, 296 pages. The importance of fishing in Ernest Hemingway's life was matched only by his passion for hunting. Edited and with an introduction by his grandson Sean, and with a foreword from his son Patrick, "Hemingway on Hunting" chronicles Ernest Hemingway's lifelong zeal for the hunting life, from the plains of Africa to the American West. B&w illustrations. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 516 pages includes index, b&w photos. Neil Lanctot's biography of Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella--filled with surprises--is the first life of the Dodger great in decades and the most authoritative ever published. Born to a father of Italian descent and an African- American mother, Campanella wanted to be a ballplayer from childhood but was barred by color from the major leagues. He dropped out of school to play professional ball with the Negro Leagues' Washington (later Baltimore) Elite Giants, where he honed his skills under Hall of Fame catcher Biz Mackey. Campy played eight years in the Negro Leagues until the major leagues integrated. Ironically, he and not Jackie Robinson might have been the player to integrate baseball, as Lanctot reveals. An early recruit to Branch Rickey's "Great Experiment" with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Campy became the first African-American catcher in the twentieth century in the major leagues. As Lanctot discloses, Campanella and Robinson, pioneers of integration, had a contentious relationship, largely as a result of a dispute over postseason barnstorming. Clean copy.