(Firenze: Stamperia di S.A.S., alia Condotta, 1688).

RARE FIRST EDITION OF PIETRO BINI'S ANTHOLOGY ON FLORENTINE FOOTBALL, a forerunner to the modern games of soccer, rugby and American football. THIS IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST TREATISES ON THAT PREDECESSOR TO OUR MODERN GAMES.
In the game of calcio two teams each consisting usually of 27 men are engaged on an enclosed ground of 172 x 82 braccie fiorentine (just little smaller than a modern football field). The action consists of carrying and kicking a pumped ball of medium size with fists and feet (hence the name calcio) in order to make it pass beyond the terminal barriers of the adversaries' half. One such successful action is called caccia. The team making the most caccie is the winner. Games typically last one hour and are played 'for honour's sake'.
The wonderfully detailed description of the game is largely by Giovanni de' Bardi and, though it was first published (anonymously) nearly a century earlier, the text included here is greatly expanded and illustrated. It fully explains the rules and manners of the game, and describes a number of games that had recently been played in and near Florence. The double-page plate depicts a match in the Piazza Santa Croce is very impressive and provides us with a lasting 17th century "instant replay" of the event. Item #29719

Rare First Edition of this very early work on football. Engraved armorial title-vignette featuring a figure with a football by Francesco Nacci, two folding engraved plates, one with players lined up for play in the Piazza Sante Croce by Alexander Cecchini and one a diagram of player's positions. 4to, in nineteenth-century marbled boards backed in black morocco, the spine gilt lettered and with multi-line gilt ruled flat bands, additional gilt tooling at the foot, bookplate of Franco Niccoli to front paste-down. [xii], 118, [2 manuscript entries] pp. A very handsome and proper copy of this rare book, with a couple of contemporary marginal annotations and one contemporary manuscript leaf bound at the end, a little scattered foxing throughout but not obtrusive.