"How to Box" by Tousey

[lklawson]

I just bought "How to Box" by Tousey. Late 1800s. Also have made a bid on Spalding's "How to Punch the Bag".

Further, I've gathered enough resources on James Sullivan's boxing manual to be able to re-edit together multiple scans of pics and thus reasonably create "New Art" so that I can repub. I'll probably give Dr. Meyers' credit for sourcing it though.

Not boxing, but I've also got "The Science of Wrestling and Art of Jiu Jitsu" (circa 1920's ims) sitting on my shelf waiting for me to repub it.

I'm still trying to source some Saber/Broadsword manuals as well.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting Tousey. Ken Pfrenger provided me a photocopy he has but the person making the original copy for him missed a number of pages and they're just GONE. I hate doing that so I decided to invest in my own original.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[lklawson]

OK, got the book in the mail.

Wow, it's in rough shape.

The paper is so aged and fragile that both the front cover and the back cover have separated at the bend not at the spine. The paper is an orange brown color from aging.

I've been using a scanner to snag images but I may need to build a photo stand for this one, if it will even stand up to THAT.

I suppose that the fact that a 130 year old Chap Book (read "cheaply made") even survived this long is impressive, but still.

I've never attempted to work with a book in this degraded a state. Wish me luck.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Chris Parker]

Hi Kirk,

Wow, I wish you the greatest of luck, and the keenest of skill in preserving such a tome. Sounds like a great library you have there...

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I'm not familiar with your project, but have you looked at the 'public domain' books on boxing on Google books?

For example:

THE SCIENCE OF BOXING ALSO RULES AND ARTICLES ON TRAINING GENERALSHIP IN THE RING AND KINDRED SUBJECTS BY PROF. MIKE DONOVAN (1893)

My apologies if this is not the sort of thing you're interested in.

 

[lklawson]

I'm not familiar with your project, but have you looked at the 'public domain' books on boxing on Google books?

For example:

THE SCIENCE OF BOXING ALSO RULES AND ARTICLES ON TRAINING GENERALSHIP IN THE RING AND KINDRED SUBJECTS BY PROF. MIKE DONOVAN (1893)

My apologies if this is not the sort of thing you're interested in.

Yeah, Donovan is exactly the sort of book that I like to republish. I like google books and Internet Archive.

Sadly for folks in general, but good for me, Tousey's book appears to be suitably rare that it hasn't appeared in any of these. I can't find it available for loan in ILL or in WorldCat. So far, I've only found it in two places. First is in the photocopy that Ken Pfrenger made available to me (unfortunately missing a few pages) and the original that I just bought.

Thanks for the link. Good stuff.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[lklawson]

P.S.,

Note the "Foul Pivot (blow)" facing pp40. Look familiar to you Karate and Kick-Boxing guys?

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk