[Felix, Nicholas] Brodribb, Gerald.

Felix on the Bat. Being a Memoir of [cricketer] Nicholas Felix. Together with the full text of the second edition of Felix on the Bat: Being a Scientific Inquiry into the use of the Cricket Bat; together with the History and use of the Catapulta, containing also coloured drawings, woodcuts and vignettes, illustrative of the principles of Batting; new diagrams and theoretical demonstrations, illustrative of the great question of “Leg before Wicket”; – A Dissertation on the Different Styles of Bowling; much new and important matter relative to the disposition of Fieldsmen, more especially of the additional number when brought into action against the “Eleven of England”: Also The Laws of the Game as revised by the Marylebone Cricket Club.

The Text of Part two is a facsimile of the second edition of 1850. London, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1962. Octavo. XIV, 145, VIII, 58 pages. Original Hardcover with dustjacket in protective collector’s mylar. Some staining to the binding and dustjacket ! Otherwise in very good condition with only minor signs of external wear to the binding.

Nicholas “Felix” Wanostrocht (5 October 1804 – 3 September 1876) was an English amateur (″Gentleman”) cricketer. He was one of the few players who – at his request – was routinely known by his pseudonym, Felix. When his father died in 1824 he had inherited the running of his school, aged only nineteen, and he was afraid that the parents of pupils might think that cricket was too frivolous a pastime for a schoolmaster.
Felix was a specialist left-handed batsman, though he did occasionally bowl underarm slow left-arm orthodox. Felix was a mainstay of the great Kent team of the mid-19th century alongside such players as Alfred Mynn, Fuller Pilch, William Hillyer and Ned Wenman. In the words of the famous elegy, best loved of Bernard Darwin,

And with five such mighty cricketers ‘twas but natural to win
As Felix, Wenman, Hillyer, Fuller Pilch and Alfred Mynn.

Felix played for Kent from 1830 until 1852. He also appeared for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and was a popular member of the All-England Eleven.
In his overall first-class career, Felix played in 149 matches and had 264 innings including 13 not out. He scored 4,556 runs at 18.15 with a highest score of 113. He made 2 centuries, 15 fifties and took 112 catches. It should be remembered when studying his batting average that he played at a time when prevailing conditions greatly favoured bowlers. Felix was rated very highly by his contemporaries.
He was the author of a famous instruction book: Felix on the Bat, Baily Bros, 1845. He also invented the Catapulta (a bowling machine) as well as India-rubber batting gloves. A man of many talents, he was also a classical scholar, musician, linguist, inventor, writer and artist.
Felix died at Wimborne Minster in Dorset and is buried in Wimborne cemetery. Ten yards from his grave is the grave of another cricketer, Montague John Druitt, better known as a prime suspect in the Jack the Ripper crimes. (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: 19th Century · History of Cricket · History of Sport · Sport · Sport – Rare
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 110176AB

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