Golf

1807 · ST12145 — Edinburgh: Printed for Peter Hill et al. 1807. FIRST EDITION. 197 x 114 mm. 7 3/4 x 4 1/2". 2 p.l. v-viii 244 pp. <br/> PUBLISHER'S ORIGINAL BLUE BOARDS paper label on spine edges untrimmed. In a felt-lined morocco-backed folding box. Four engraved plates three views and a city plan. Front free endpaper inscribed "Edin. 27th April 1807 / Agnes Cockburn / in memory / of the author." Donovan & Murdoch 270. Boards a little soiled front joint cracked rear joint starting at tail extremities with the expected considerable wear spine label chipped with a fourth of the letters gone but the boards still attached and the extremely insubstantial publisher's binding still appealing because of its original materials. Title page with a bit of offsetting from frontispiece isolated minor foxing in text other trivial imperfections but an excellent copy internally the untrimmed leaves bright fresh and clean with all of their ample margins intact.<br/> <br/> This is an invaluable early book on the history of St. Andrews in general and more specifically on St. Andrews as the home of the game of golf offered here in the publisher's original boards. It is the first work by the clergyman and polymath James Grierson M. D. 1768-1844 and the first printing of the first work on the ultimate destination of all those who consider golf sacred.The final chapter here entitled "The Company of Golfers" gives a short history of golf provides "an idea of the nature of this elegant amusement" and describes how the earliest golf balls called "featheries" on account of their stuffing were made. The book is dedicated to Lady Elizabeth Moncreiffe the daughter of the renowned military leader and politician George Ramsay 9th Earl of Dalhousie Governor General of British North America and later Commander-in-Chief of India wife to Sir Thomas Moncreiffe and a woman of considerable wealth. Grierson had served as tutor to her son Sir David Moncreiffe 6th Baronet 1788-1830 early in his career and apparently maintained a connection to the family. Our first edition is uncommonly found in publisher's boards. Printed for Peter Hill, et al. unknown