Bare-Knuckle Boxing
The British Prize Ring 1740–1890
235 x 298mm
256 pp
413 illustrations
A sumptuous folio edition documenting Pierre and Anna Spake’s exceptional collection of prints, paintings, ceramics and broadsides from the earliest years of the prize ring.
Few other sports from the 18th and 19th centuries have spawned such a wealth of objects, images and words as prize-fighting. Bare-Knuckle Boxing captures this great artistic diversity, chronicling the imagery of boxing’s earliest years and bringing the colourful history of the prize ring to life.
Featuring a foreword by the renowned boxing historian Tony Gee, Bare-Knuckle Boxing also includes short essays on life in and around the prize ring, and extracts from contemporaneous reports of key fights.
“I never cease to marvel at how
comprehensive the Spakes’ collection actually is
—?surely one of the largest, if not the largest,
in private hands anywhere in the world.”
Tony Gee