Crumbs From a Sportsman’s Table c.1868 By Charles Clarke – Leather-Bound
 
Features
 
Half-leather antiquarian binding with marbled boards
Gilt-lettered and decorated spine
Decorative chapter headpieces throughout
All edges sprinkled
Victorian sporting literature
Dated internally to 18 June 1868
 
Bibliographic Details
 
Title: Crumbs From a Sportsman’s Table
Author: Charles Clarke
Publisher: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly, London
Printer: W. H. Smith & Son, 186 Strand, London
Date: c.1868 (see dating note below)
Format: Hardback, half leather with marbled boards
Pagination: iv + 362 pages
Dimensions: approx. 17.6 × 12 × 3.1 cm
Weight: approx. 419 g
 
Dating note:

Although undated on the title page, the final page of text is printed “18-8-68”, widely understood as 18 June 1868. This aligns with Chapman & Hall’s Piccadilly address usage (1852–1881), strongly supporting an 1868 publication date.
 
Exterior Condition
 
Bound in half leather to the spine, inner board edges and corners, with marbled paper boards. The spine features gilt lettering and small gilt decorations.
The binding is intact, robust, and secure. Wear is consistent with age and includes soft bumping and rubbing at the corners, patches of rubbing and light scratches to the marbled paper, fading and discolouration to the spine, light rubbing, and edge wear. All page edges are sprinkled.
 
Interior Condition
 
Light green decorative pastedowns and endpapers. Pages are lightly tanned, with slightly darker toning to the title page. Overall, the interior is neat, clean, and predominantly uncreased.
 
There is:
A pen inscription on the front free endpaper
Pencil remnants on the title page
A bookseller’s embossed stamp to the front free endpaper: “Chas. W. Poole, Market Place, Chelmsford”, which has slightly cut into the paper, causing a small split
The very occasional small mark (including a tiny mark affecting a single letter on p.121)
A few very small edge rips, mainly at inner margins, not affecting text
A handful of pages lightly loose at the lower inner margin but still attached and secure
A very light, partial gutter crack between pages 226 and 227
 
All pages are present and firmly held overall.
 
About the Book
 
Crumbs From a Sportsman’s Table is a Victorian sporting miscellany, reflecting 19th-century attitudes to field sports, leisure, and gentlemanly pursuits. Written in an anecdotal, reflective style, it offers glimpses into sporting life and social habits of the period, enhanced by decorative chapter headpieces that give the volume considerable visual charm.
 
Books of this nature were often read privately and later rebound or preserved in half leather, making surviving copies in attractive bindings increasingly scarce.
 
About the Author
 
Charles Clarke was a 19th-century writer known for sporting and anecdotal works reflecting Victorian leisure culture.
 
Rarity & Market Context
 
Mid-Victorian sporting books published by Chapman & Hall are increasingly uncommon, particularly in half-leather bindings rather than plain cloth. Copies dated or datable to the late 1860s with intact decorative elements and complete pagination are notably harder to source today.
 
While not a mass-market sporting manual, this title appeals to collectors of:
Victorian sporting literature
Social history of leisure
19th-century half-leather bindings
 
Condition, binding style, and confirmed period dating all enhance collectability.
 
Collector Notes
 
Reliably dated to 1868 by internal printer’s notation
Attractive half-leather binding with gilt spine
Decorative chapter headpieces throughout
Complete and structurally sound despite minor age-related wear
A characterful Victorian sporting volume with strong shelf presence