Famous Rugby Footballers, 1895
The "Famous Footballers" were a series of high quality photographies edited by C.W.Alcock and Rowland Hill in 1895 (published by Hudson & Kearns). It came as a 12 pages weekly leaflet (cf below... too large for my A4 scanner...), or as individual sheets within "News of the World" newspaper. Strong and glossy paper... sharp pictures... the quality is just amazing... All pictures were shot in studio, in sometimes fairly kitsch settings...
The full series comprizes of 224 large photographies, i.e. 108 Association Footballers and 116 Ruggers... All the best British players from the 90s (1890s I mean...) are featured here... a fine journey between Home Countries (Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England) and major clubs, universities or counties from then (Blackheath, Moseley, Newport, Cardiff, Cambridge, Oxford, Lancashire, Midland County etc...)... a great way to capture that pioneers era...
You can sometimes find these pictures as a rare, expensive and beautiful king-size bounded book... I do collect them one by one... or can sometimes find a leaflet... I do have about fifty of them... some other posts in the future ! By the way, there are four of them hanging on my office wall to welcome you, should you pay me a visit in Paris !
As a starter today, here are Paul Clauss of Scotland (a member of the team that toured South Africa in 1891), A.J.Gould of Newport and Wales, J.H. Rogers of Moseley and England, B.B.Tuke of Ireland (click on the links to get larger pics).
To be continued...
