Home >> Carr >> Dictionaries >>
Carr's Dictionary of extra-ordinary English Cricketers
This is Carr's second dictionary; the first, by three months, was the Dictionary of English Queens.
The origins of the Dictionary of extra-ordinary English Cricketers can be traced back to the Year Book of the Midlands Club Cricket Conference of 1948.
Carr reported in 1987 that he had published nine impressions of this dictionary (History QTP, 1987), but at least 12 different versions have been identified. The ISBN was registered as having been used in August 1977, presumably for the second impression rather than the first, which he dated July, 1977 in the second impression. The ISBN was applied after the ISBN for the Dictionary of English Queens which is dated March, 1977. Carr added a printing history to all impressions from the second to the eighth; thereafter the same printing history was reprinted in at least four small books which are different from each other in some way, so are treated as different impressions.
The Dictionary was reviewed enthusiastically by Frank Keating in The Guardian on 13th August 1977.
The Dictionary was reviewed in The Spectator in September 1977 by Benny Green, who suggested some additional entries. Three of them were added by Carr to the fourth impression in September 1977. He made a few more small changes to the fifth impression in January 1978. The changes made are noted next to each revised impression.
An admission
In an undated letter to a friend, probably written in the 1980s, Carr admitted the following:
The cricket dictionary – for high literary reasons I falsified one detail on the front cover. Quite undetectable! Then a Rotherham man wrote, "My father, Irving Washington played in the game on your front cover and. . ." Well I won't go on, it’s too painful. But it only goes to show!
The cover shows behind the head of W.G. Grace part of the scorecard from the match on 2nd-3rd June, 1902 at Headingley in Leeds in which the Australians were dismissed by Yorkshire for only 23 runs in their second innings. Carr changed the person who took the wicket of A.J. Hopkins from ‘lbw Hirst’ to ‘lbw Rhodes’. Why? Perhaps because, otherwise, Wilfred Rhodes (1877-1973), who did not bowl in the second innings, would not have appeared in the scorecard illustrated on the Dictionary? Both the Honorable F.S.Jackson (1870-1947) and George Hirst (1871-1954) took 5 wickets each in Australia's second innings and Rhodes did not bowl. That innings lasted only 14 overs, the match ended in two days, and Yorkshire won by 5 wickets. Carr was born 10 years later. Both Hirst and Rhodes have entries in the dictionary. Carr wrote at the end of the entry on Rhodes: One can only marvel at a recently notorious list of peerages knowing that he never received one.
(Last updated on 16/2/2024)
SBD-EC1-1: First edition
Publisher: J.L. Carr Publisher, 27 Mill Dale Road, Kettering
Year: (July 1977)
ISBN: not allocated
Size: 129 x 98 mm
Pages: 16 pp
Staples: one
Binding: printed glossy card covers
Paper: white
Illustrations: none within
Editor: (J.L. Carr)
Cover artist: (J.L. Carr)
Internal Illustrations: none
Number in series: none given
Colophon: House
Telephone number: none
Printing history: none
Number of other titles listed: 27
Printed by: Central Printing Works (Kettering) Ltd
Content: 122 entries
Price: [20 pence]
Rear and front covers
Inside rear cover
Notes: No date of publication is given, it is taken from the second impression which gives the publishing history. The Dictionary of English Queens is listed inside the rear cover, so that title was published first.
The Dictionary contains an entry on 'George Harpole, c 1949, of Tampling', a character in The Harpole Report (1972) which was situated in Tampling St. Nicholas Church of England (Aided) School. There is no such place as Tampling although it is listed as a surname. Amazon is also selling, in November 2020, a Kindle edition of The Tampling of the Shrew by William Shakespeare. I propose therefore that 'to tample' means to confuse words and create a new one. You read it here first.
The entry on Mr Sexton, an Essex farmer, (who) owned a magnificant salix alba from which 1179 bats were manufactured
may well be a relation of Carr's wife Sally, born Hilda Sexton.
SBD-EC1-2: Second impression
Publisher: J.L. Carr Publisher, 27 Mill Dale Road, Kettering
Year: August 1977 (first)
ISBN: (0900847808)
Size: 130 x 97 mm
Pages: 16 pp
Staples: one
Binding: white printed glossy card covers
Paper: white
Illustrations: none
Editor: J.L. Carr
Cover artist: J.L. Carr - W.G. Grace on front; Ranjitsinhji on rear
Internal Illustrations: none
Number in series: none given
Colophon: House
Telephone number: none
Printing history: Published July 1977, Reprint August 1977
Number of other titles listed: 27
Printed by: Central Printing Works (Kettering) Ltd
Content: 122 entries
Notes: The ISBN was registered in August 1977, to this impresssion.
Rear and front covers
Inside rear cover
SBD-EC1-3: Third impression
Publisher: J.L. Carr Publisher, 27 Mill Dale Road, Kettering
Year: August 1977 (second)
ISBN: (0900847808)
Size: 130 x 98 mm
Pages: 16 pp
Staples: one
Binding: white printed glossy card covers
Paper: white
Editor: J.L. Carr
Cover artist: J.L. Carr - W.G. Grace on front; Ranjitsinhji on rear
Internal Illustrations: two by J.L. Carr inside front cover
Number in series: not stated
Colophon: house
Telephone number: none stated
Printing history: Published July 1977; Reprint August 1977 (twice)
Number of other titles listed: 27
Printed by: Central Printing Works (Kettering) Ltd.
Content: 122 entries
Notes: There is a copy of this impression in the Library at Lord's.
Rear and front covers
Inside rear cover
SBD-EC1-4: Fourth impression (revised)
Publisher: J.L. Carr Publisher, 27 Mill Dale Road, Kettering
Year: September 1977
ISBN: (0900847808)
Size: 129 x 98 mm
Pages: 16 pp
Staples: one
Binding: white printed glossy card covers
Paper: one
Editor: (J.L. Carr)
Cover artist: J.L. Carr - W.G. Grace on front; Ranjitsinhji on rear
Internal Illustrations: two by J.L. Carr inside front cover
Number in series: none stated
Colophon: house
Telephone number: none stated
Printing history: Published July 1977; Reprint August 1977 (twice); Revised September 1977
Number of other titles listed: 27
Printed by: Central Printing Works (Kettering) Ltd.
Content: 123 entries
Rear and front covers
Inside rear cover
Notes: This impression contains some of the additional entries suggested by Benny Green in his review of the book published in The Spectator
on 17th September 1977. Carr added entries on Dr Arthur Abraham, Mr H. Bagshaw and T.A. Fison based on Green's suggestions. He also added entries on the Hon. F.S. Jackson, Miss Rose Murphy and George Macaulay Trevelyan and edited the entries on Gilbert Jessop, Philip Mead, John Nyren and Frank Woolley (whom I met when I was about 10 years old). To make space, entries on E.B. Alletson, K.S. Duleepsinhji, D.R. Jardine, J.C. Laker and A.A. Thomson were dropped.
SBD-EC1-5: Fifth impression
Publisher: J.L. Carr Publisher, 27 Mill Dale Road, Kettering
Year: January 1978
ISBN: (0900847808)
Size: 128 x 98 mm
Pages: 16 pp
Staples: one
Binding: white printed glossy card covers
Paper: white
Editor: (J.L. Carr)
Cover artist: J.L. Carr - W.G. Grace on front; Ranjitsinhji on rear
Internal Illustrations: two by J.L. Carr inside front cover
Number in series: not stated
Colophon: house
Telephone number: not stated
Printing history: Published July 1977; Reprint August 1977 (twice); Revised September 1977; Revised January 1978
Number of other titles listed: 30
Printed by: Central Printing Works (Kettering) Ltd.
Content: 122 entries
Notes: Carr dropped the empty entry on Lionel Palairet and edited entries on B.J.T. Bosanquet, Harold Larwood and Arthur Shrewsbury.
Rear and front covers
Inside rear cover
SBD-EC1-6: Sixth impression
Publisher: J.L. Carr Publisher, 27 Mill Dale Road, Kettering
Year: June 1978
ISBN: (0900847808)
Size: 128 x 97 mm
Pages: 16 pp
Staples: one
Binding: white printed glossy card covers
Paper: white
Editor: (J.L. Carr)
Cover artist: J.L. Carr - W.G. Grace on front; Ranjitsinhji on rear
Internal Illustrations: two by J.L. Carr inside front cover
Number in series: not stated
Colophon: house
Telephone number: not stated
Printing history: Published July 1977; Reprint August 1977 (twice); Revised September 1977; Revised January 1978; Reprinted June 1978
Number of other titles listed: 30
Printed by: Central Printing Works (Kettering) Ltd.
Content: 122 entries
Notes:
Rear and front covers
Inside rear cover
SBD-EC1-7: Seventh impression
Publisher: J.L. Carr Publisher, 27 Mill Dale Road, Kettering
Year: October 1980
ISBN: (0900847808)
Size: 129 x 100 mm
Pages: 16 pp
Staples: one
Binding: white printed matt card covers
Paper: white
Editor: (J.L. Carr)
Cover artist: J.L. Carr - W.G. Grace on front; Ranjitsinhji on rear
Internal Illustrations: two by J.L. Carr inside front cover
Number in series: not stated
Colophon: house
Telephone number: not stated
Printing history: Published July 1977; Reprint August 1977 (twice); Revised September 1977; Revised January 1978; Reprinted June 1978 and October 1980
Number of other titles listed: 30
Printed by: Central Printing Works (Kettering) Ltd.
Content: 122 entries
Notes:
Rear and front covers
Inside rear cover
SBD-EC1-8: Eighth impression?
Publisher: J.L. Carr Publisher, 27 Mill Dale Road, Kettering
Year: March 1981
ISBN: (0900847808)
Size: 127 x 98 mm
Pages: 16 pp
Staples: one
Binding: white printed matt card covers
Paper: white
Editor: (J.L. Carr)
Cover artist: J.L. Carr - W.G. Grace on front; Christopher Fiddes on rear with poem by Edmund Blunden written out by Carr
Internal Illustrations: two by J.L. Carr inside front cover
Number in series: not stated
Colophon: sun face 1964
Telephone number: not stated
Printing history: Published July 1977; Reprint August 1977 (twice); Revised September 1977; Revised January 1978; Reprinted June 1978, October 1980 and March 1981
Number of other titles listed: 39
Printed by: none stated
Content: 122 entries
Rear and front covers
(L) Inside front cover (R) Inside rear cover
Notes: Carr changed the design on the rear cover to a drawing by Christoper Fiddes, and moved the printing history from inside the rear cover to inside the front cover. The text is printed in green ink. The only reason that this is taken to be the eighth impression is that it has only one staple; the next three impressions which have the same printing history all have two staples. This could be wrong.
SBD-EC1-9: Ninth impression?
Publisher: J.L. Carr Publisher, 27 Mill Dale Road, Kettering
Year:
ISBN: (0900847808)
Size: 127 x 96 mm
Pages: 16 pp
Staples: two
Binding: white printed matt card covers
Paper: white
Editor: (J.L. Carr)
Cover artist: J.L. Carr - W.G. Grace on front; Christopher Fiddes on rear with poem by Edmund Blunden written out by Carr
Internal Illustrations: two by J.L. Carr inside front cover
Number in series: not stated
Colophon: sun face 1964
Telephone number: not stated
Printing history: Published July 1977; Reprint August 1977 (twice); Revised September 1977; Revised January 1978; Reprinted June 1978, October 1980 and March 1981
Number of other titles listed: 39
Printed by: none stated
Content: 122 entries
Rear and front covers
(L) Inside front cover (R) Inside rear cover
Notes: This impression has the same printing history and number of titles listed as the eighth impression but has two staples.
SBD-EC1-10: Tenth impression?
Publisher: J.L. Carr Publisher, 27 Mill Dale Road, Kettering
Year:
ISBN: (0900847808)
Size: 130 x 97 mm
Pages: 16 pp
Staples: two
Binding: white printed matt card covers
Paper: white
Editor: (J.L. Carr)
Cover artist: J.L. Carr - W.G. Grace on front; Christopher Fiddes on rear with poem by Edmund Blunden written out by Carr
Internal Illustrations: two by J.L. Carr inside front cover
Number in series: not stated
Colophon: sun face 1964
Telephone number: not stated
Printing history: Published July 1977; Reprint August 1977 (twice); Revised September 1977; Revised January 1978; Reprinted June 1978, October 1980 and March 1981
Number of other titles listed: 39
Printed by: Arkle Print, Northampton
Content: 122 entries
Rear and front covers
(L) Inside front cover (R) Inside rear cover
Notes: This impression is also dated March 1981 and lists the same number of other titles as the two previous impressions, but it is different from the eighth and ninth impression as a printer is named: Arkle Print. Whether it came before the eighth edition is uncertain.
SBD-EC1-11: Eleventh impression?
Publisher: J.L. Carr Publisher, 27 Mill Dale Road, Kettering
Year:
ISBN: (0900847808)
Size: 127 x 98 mm
Pages: 16 pp
Staples: two
Binding: white printed glossy card covers
Paper: white
Editor: (J.L. Carr)
Cover artist: J.L. Carr - W.G. Grace on front; Christopher Fiddes on rear with poem by Edmund Blunden written out by Carr
Internal Illustrations: two by J.L. Carr inside front cover
Number in series: not stated
Colophon: sun face 1964
Telephone number: not stated
Printing history: Published July 1977; Reprint August 1977 (twice); Revised September 1977; Revised January 1978; Reprinted June 1978, October 1980 and March 1981
Number of other titles listed: 39
Printed by: none stated
Content: 122 entries
Rear and front covers
(L) Inside front cover (R) Inside rear cover
Notes: This is identical to the eighth, ninth and tenth impression except that it has printed glossy card covers with a grey background, so it is a different impression. No printer is stated.
SBD-EC1-11: Twelfth impression?
Publisher: J.L. Carr Publisher, 27 Mill Dale Road, Kettering
Year:
ISBN: (0900847808)
Size: 127 x 98 mm
Pages: 16 pp
Staples: two
Binding: white printed glossy card covers
Paper: white
Editor: (J.L. Carr)
Cover artist: J.L. Carr - W.G. Grace on front; Christopher Fiddes on rear with poem by Edmund Blunden written out by Carr
Internal Illustrations: two by J.L. Carr inside front cover
Number in series: not stated
Colophon: sun face 1964
Telephone number: not stated
Printing history: Published July 1977; Reprint August 1977 (twice); Revised September 1977; Revised January 1978; Reprinted June 1978, October 1980 and March 1981
Number of other titles listed: 39
Printed by: Arkle Print, Northampton
Content: 122 entries
Rear and front covers
(L) Inside front cover (R) Inside rear cover
Notes: This is identical to the eleventh impression with printed glossy card covers with a grey background, but the text inside the covers is a paler green and a printer is named, Arkle Print.