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James Naismith Signed 1893 Basketball Handbook
Hobbyists and fans alike were stunned by the 2010 sale of the original signed Naismith Basketball Rules at auction at Sotheby's for $4.3mn to longtime Kansas donor David Booth. We were further transfixed by the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "There's No Place Like Home" detailing Jayhawk fan Josh Swade's most fascinating sports memorabilia journey. The Naismith Rules were characterized as being the birth certificate of basketball. Well this is the Christening of "the greatest invention ever." Recently discovered in the Cleveland area, this is the title page to the virtually unknown Naismith's "Basket Ball for 1893" actually signed by "Jas. Naismith" the inventor of the game. Published in Springfield, Massachusetts by the Triangle Publishing Company, the booksmith hand of the Y.M.C.A, the home of the game. We so far know of only one copy in private hands and that with a partial cover. This is the title page, believed to have been pulled from one of the specimens before it was donated to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. The page itself measures 5.5x3.5" and shows where it has been torn out, but it is in otherwise beautiful condition blessed with a near mint, vintage, ink fountain pen signature that appears, based on examples, to have been signed by a young Naismith in his early 30s. Again, this is the second most important signed basketball document of a purely American invention.
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