Title: CRICKET MY DESTINY. >>SIGNED COPY>...
Publisher: Stanley, Paul & Co. London.
Publication Date: 1946
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
Signed: Inscribed by Author
Edition: 1st Edition
8vo. 156 printed pages. 14 black & white plates. Printed cartoon bookplate of Brian Johnston on front paste-down endpaper. Pencil inscription in flowing hand "To Brian. From one great bat to another. Wally" on front free endpaper (slightly chipped at the top edge). 14.5 x 22 cm. Original dark blue cloth (upper board very slightly stained, corners very slightly bumped, spine faded). Complete with unclipped dust jacket (tiny marginal stain on back upper marginn, some insubstantial edgewear). Provenance: Brian Johnston's own copy with his personal bookplate. Johnston (1912-94), nicknamed Johnners, was a British cricket commentator, author, and television presenter. At Oxford he was a keen cricketer, keeping wicket for his college team, Oxford Authentics, and also for the Eton Ramblers and I Zingari, but he never managed to progress to the Varsity side. He was most prominently associated with the BBC during a career which lasted from 1946 until his death in January 1994. This book is the autobiography of Hammond (1903-65) the great Gloucestershire and England batsman. In his career Hammond made 167 first-class centuries. Hammond played for Gloucestershire between 1920 and 1951. He played 85 Test matches for England between 1927 and 1947. In Arlott's biography (by David Rayvern Allen) Johnston said about Hammond, "I don't think he ever quite approved of my schoolboy humour and he was a real wit. I think he thought me a bit childish, and he used to pull my leg. Send as many cakes as you like, he would say. Which was a bit annoying, because people then did it." A unique copy possibly handed from Hammond to Johnston in 1946 at Bristol, playing bridge together during the innings. Padwick, 7638. Bookseller Inventory # 5036