High-quality collectables at a low price

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1926 Willows £55, 1031

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1927 Willows £55, 1033

The last four months have seen two more high-quality reprints of rare Wisdens from Willows and more are in the pipeline for 2008, which will be welcome news for collectors with anything other than Getty-deep pockets.

The latest offerings continue the run through the mid 1920s. The 1926 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was the first under a new editor, C Stewart Caine, who stepped into the breach following the death of the long-serving Sydney Pardon in November 1925. However, Pardon's plans were well advanced and this edition is largely his work. The 1924 Almanack had been the first to top 1000 pages, although 1925 slid under that at 995. This issue, however, was a monster, with 1031 pages, the increase mainly down to coverage of the 1924-25 Ashes. For the fourth and final time, the Five Cricketers of the Year were dropped in favour of one player, this time Jack Hobbs, in recognition of his overtaking WG Grace as the most prolific century-maker of all time.

The 1927 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack again set a new record for size - 1033 pages - and a very upbeat volume as England had regained the Ashes and after three woefully one-sided post-war series, defeated the Australians with victory in the deciding Test. One effect of four draws was to ensure that three-day Ashes Tests were ditched. In an echo of an argument that was to follow some 70 years later, the editor warned that the increasing number of overseas tours was putting too much strain on leading players, especially bowlers.

The fun of the books are not so much the written word, which to the modern eye are often dated and a cumbersome read, but the overall package. The advertisements are entertaining in their own right - for Turkish baths in London, horse boots to protect pitches rolled by horse-drawn devices, and Ellison's turnstiles, a must-have for any club! And as always, the reproduction is outstanding and the end product as good as you will get.

David Jenkins, the enthusiast who, with the help of his family, runs the small publishing firm of Willows, still plans to continue reissuing Almanacks through to the 1939 edition. It seems unlikely that he will stop there. We certainly hope not.