Rules of the Game

Chadwick's Base Ball Manual.
London: George Routledge, 1874
Rare Book & Special Collection Division (213)
Purchase, 1991

The growth of baseball in the years following the Civil War was given added impetus by the rise of cheap, mass-produced books. Publishers helped standardize the rules and regulations of the sport by issuing playing guides and yearbooks that traveled from the large cities to the smallest hamlets. British-born Henry Chadwick, whose manuals enjoyed great popularity, even made an unsuccessful attempt to spread baseball to Europe.