Beschreibung:

Roland Pretty Hill ('RIP') 1866-1949. An excellent collection of all twenty original pen and ink illustrations for the book 'J.N. Crawford's Trip to Kangarooland. Illustrated by Rip!' 1909 by John Neville Crawford (Surrey, South Australia & England 1904-1921) drawn by Roland Pretty Hill under his pseudonym 'RIP'. A unique collection of all nineteen original pen and ink illustrations on card which featured in the book including the design for the front cover of the book and similar title page which features Crawford in striped blazer shaking hands with a kangaroo, both Crawford and the kangaroo are wearing spectacles in the original illustration but on the actual printed cover and title page only Crawford is wearing them, as he did all his playing career. The front cover/title page measures 8"x10.5" and the remaining nineteen various sized are smaller, some with shading in blue crayon, many signed by the artist and captioned. There is also a proof sheet with captions altered in pencil. Running in appearance order from the book, the title page being the first, there are illustrations of an Umpire signalling 'Over' (2), Crawford, who was only 20 years old when he went on the tour and under age, asking his fathers permission (3), Crawford asking the umpire for 'a dry handkerchief to lend me' [to wipe his spectacles whilst bowling (4), Crawford batting in full flow 'A La Lyons. Out of the ground for 6' (5) [with preliminary sketch to verso], Crawford and Richard A.Young (Cambridge University, Sussex & England)1905-1925 (nickname Blurr, he went to Repton School with Crawford) walking out in Sydney 'Giving the Sydney Girls a treat' (6), Hutchings, Crawford and Young, in individual beds, Young having nightmares (due to his poor performance in the first Test) 'Bad luck Fielder!, well bowled!' (7), two images of the same Australian crowd at the first Test, one smiling and happy, the other troubled entitled 'Australia doing well, Australian wickets falling fast' (8), the proof sheet depicting an English Lion and a Australian Kangaroo, England doing well by the Wednesday evening and not so well by the Thursday' evening entitled 'An Australian Caricature' (9), Tarrant batting slowly in the tour match with a Victorian XI following the Test, the illustration shows members of the team including Crawford making comments around Tarrant with caption 'Cricket- A matter of endurance' (10), a batsman being given out by the umpire, with Crawford bowling, entitled 'You've had two or three very narrow squeaks before, my boy' (11), an excellent image of Barnes and Fielder walking off triumphantly with bats over their shoulders having scored the 40 runs required to win the second Test by one wicket, entitled 'The two bowlers whose batting won the second Test' (12), head and shoulders image of a very hot Crawford wearing a boater and smoking a cigarette entitled 'Blisters!' due to the high temperatures in the Third Test at Adelaide (13), 'Blurr fishing', image showing Blurr (R.A. Young) fishing with a rod, in the River Tamar [Tasmania] whilst in the water himself (14), Crawford in batting attire pondering the fact that he almost made a pair in the fourth Test at Melbourne (he made 0 & 1) (15), Crawford and Hutchings eating oysters and drinking ginger beer entitled 'Could you eat another dozen Hutch, What! a bad one?' (16), the seventeenth illustration depicts Clem Hill walking into bat with wicket keeper Humphries looking on entitled 'The Invalid. Do I look very seedy Boys. (Clem Hill, 3rd Test Match)'. (17). [Hill had spent two days in bed ill with influenza during the Test, whilst England had been in the field and then made 160 runs...], an excellent illustration showing George Gunn sitting on the top of a cricket bat with other leading run scorers, Hardstaff, Jones, Hobbs etc positioned below, the caption reads 'The Gunn mounted, top of the Averages' (18) [Gunn topped the tour batting averages with 831 runs at 51.93 with a highest score of 122no], the
The English cricket team in Australia in 1907/08 lost the Test series, and with it the Ashes, 4-1. They were handicapped by Arthur Jones, their captain, having to miss the first three Tests through illness. Frederick Fane led the side during Jones' absence. George Gunn, in Australia for the good of his health, was called into the touring party to bolster the batting and was a great success, scoring two hundreds including one on his Test debut, and scoring 462 runs at an average of 51.33. Nevertheless, England's batting was fragile throughout the series, with only Kenneth Hutchings scoring a hundred in addition to Gunn. Jack Hobbs made his England debut in the second Test, the only one which England won, scoring 83 and 28, and he had the next best average to Gunn. The bowling relied on Jack Crawford, Arthur Fielder and Sydney Barnes, who took 79 wickets between them. England lost the first Test by only two wickets, and ought to have won the third. In the latter match, Clem Hill coming in at number 9 in Australia's second innings because of an attack of influenza made 160. He added 243 for the eighth wicket with Hartigan (116), their partnership turning the match. Jack Crawford had a successful tour all round, the overall tour averages stating he took 72 wickets at 23.90 and made 635 runs at an average of 26.45 with a highest score of 114. He also took 17 catches. John Neville Crawford (1886-1963) played mainly for Surrey and South Australia. An amateur, he played as an all-rounder. As a right-handed batsman, Crawford had a reputation for scoring quickly and hitting powerful shots. He bowled medium-paced off spin and was noted for his accuracy and his ability to make the ball turn sharply from the pitch. Unusually for a first-class cricketer, Crawford wore spectacles while playing. Crawford established a reputation as an outstanding cricketer while still a schoolboy. He played Test cricket for England before he was 21 years old, and successfully toured South Africa with the M.C.C. in 1905/06 and Australia with the MCC in 1907/08. He played only 12 matches for England, although critics believed he had a great future in the sport and was a potential future England captain. In two successive English seasons, he completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in first-class games. A dispute over the composition of a Surrey side chosen to play a high-profile game against Australia in 1909, after several professional players were omitted for disciplinary reasons, led to an increasingly bitter disagreement between Crawford and the Surrey authorities. Crawford was told he had no future with the club, and moved to Australia. There, he worked as a teacher and continued his cricket career with South Australia. This arrangement had a controversial end, when he clashed with the South Australian Cricket Association over money and moved to New Zealand to play for Otago. That relationship also ended badly, and he left Otago before being conscripted into the New Zealand armed forces near the end of the First World War. When he was demobilised, he returned to England and made his peace with Surrey. He played a handful of games between 1919 and 1921 but faded out of first-class cricket to pursue a career in industry. In all first-class cricket, Crawford scored 9,488 runs at an average of 32.60 and took 815 wickets at an average of 20.66.