Kidgell, John (b. 1722)
The Card.

London: Printed for the maker and sold by J. Newbery, 1755.

First edition, two 12mo volumes, hand-colored engraved frontispiece in first volume, and one full-page engraving at page twelve in the same volume; bound in full uniform contemporary speckled calf, spines tooled, numbered, and lettered in gilt, 6 1/2 x 4 in. (2)

Kidgell's novel contains the first surviving mention of the term baseball, a game derived from cricket. The game is named in the first volume, on page nine. "[T]he younger part of the family, perceiving Papa not inclined to enlarge upon the matter, retired to an interrupted party at Baseball, (an infant game, which as it advances in its teens, improves into Fives, and in its state of manhood, is called Tennis.)"

Roscoe A282; ESTC T68566.