Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

[5] An Indian version, edited by Suresh Menon, was produced annually from 2013 to 2018,[6] but discontinued following the publication of a combined 2019 and 2020 issue.[12] The first edition may have been based on a diary written by Francis Emilius Cary Elwes in 1863 and discovered in 2016, although to what extent this was the case remains open to question.Since 2003, the front cover has featured a photograph of one or more current cricketers,[a] whilst a smaller version of the woodcut now appears on each volume's spine (an exception being the 150th edition in 2013, which reverted to the previous format).Described by the publishers as a "distillation of what's best in its bigger brother", it includes the Notes by the Editor, all the articles, reviews, obituaries, and the reports on all England's Test matches for the year in question.Work undertaken by the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians has found small errors in around 70% of the scorecards published in Wisden before 1970, as these were based on figures submitted by local reporters rather than official sources.Nowadays the records section is intended to be complementary to the much more detailed data available online at Wisden's associated website ESPNcricinfo.Hugely detailed coverage, including scorecards of every First class game played in the previous English summer, and summaries of minor counties, second eleven, university, school and premier club cricket, as well as the Village Cup.[25] Beginning with the 1993 edition, the Books section has been written by a different person each year, often someone "with a literary reputation first and a separate enthusiasm for cricket".A selection from recent years includes: Rabbit burns down pavilion; Hot-air balloons stop play; Cricketers arrested for dancing naked; Fine leg arrives by parachute; Fried calamari stopped play; Umpire locked in ground overnight.. Wisden has had seventeen editors:[27] Booth's deputy, promoted to the role of co-editor, is Hugh Chevallier.After a two-year hiatus during World War 1 the plate reappeared in 1918, but as a mechanically printed image depicting five School Bowlers of the Year.From 1933 to 1939 the softback editions of the Almanack contained a cricket bat bookmark attached by the blade to the inside of the spine with yellow string.Excepting the 1963 centenary softback, the external appearance of both types of the Almanack then remained substantially unchanged until 1965 when the hardback was issued with a dust jacket.Between 1965 and 1978 the woodcut and text elements of the softback covers and the hardback dust jackets were printed in a variety of colours before reverting to black on yellow from 1979 onwards.[32] The first three facsimile sets reproduced the wrong back cover for the 1878 edition – they incorrectly showed a list of articles supplied by John Wisden & Co.Although these mimic the appearance of the softback covers they are not true facsimiles as the original hardback editions were never issued with dust jackets.On 1 December 2018 Willows Publishing sold all their remaining stock of circa 2500 books to www.wisdenauction.com The size of Wisden print runs is of considerable interest to collectors as rarity has a very strong influence on the value of individual editions.The most reliable, or rather most widely quoted, source of information on print runs is an article by Leslie Gutteridge titled "A History of Wisden" published in the 1963 Almanack.[36] The size of the print run was based on the publisher's belief that England's successful Ashes campaign the previous summer would attract considerable public interest.