Pioneer of Sporting Journalism
Life of William T. Porter.
New York: D. Appleton, 1860.
Price: $750.00
About the item
First edition. Portrait frontispiece. vii, 273 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Pioneer of Sporting Journalism. Original green cloth. Minor stain on front cover, faint rubbing at spine, portrait slightly foxed, else fine. Bruns B-228; Fairfax Harrison, The Background of the American Stud Book, pp. 87-88 et passim.
Item #52998
The biography of Porter, who in 1831 founded the American sporting periodical 'spirit of the Times," and served as its editor from 1835 to 1850. He also edited the American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine from 1840-1844, and the annual American Turf Register and Racing & Trotting Calendar from 1845-1855. He was a figure of enormous influence in the history of flat racing in America.
"As a sportsman Porter was never a practicing horseman: his individual interest was in angling. But as a reporter of racing none has ever surpassed him" - Harrison.
With an ALS dated New York Nov. 2nd, 1875, "The Article on Frank's in Barclay Street incorporated into his Life of Porter was written by me at the suggestion of Alderman John Clancy and published in his paper The New York Leader and afterwards reprinted in the Old Spirit when edited by Col. Tom Thorpe in the year 1858. Yours & c. Thomas Pieters 'The Juvenile' of the Old Spirit"
The passage in question, "Frank Monteverde's in Barclay Street" (at pp. 86-100), describes the history of a public house next door to the Spirit of the Times frequented by sportsmen, with a vignette of Porter, known as the "Tall Son of New York" and a regular at Frank's.
"This biography is by Porter's brother-in-law and contains much on Porter's angling activities. Porter has been thought of as the father of the school of American sporting literature" - Bruns.
