The Golfer’s Manual: Being an Historical and Descriptive Account of the National Game of Scotland; with an Appendix. By A Keen Hand.

FARNIE, Henry Brougham [A Keen Hand].

Item Number: 84030

Cupar, Scotland: Whitehead and Orr, 1857.

First edition of the first book of prose written on golf and the first book of golf instruction. Small octavo, original blindstamped red cloth, gilt titles and tooling to the front panel, all edges gilt. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell and chemise. Rare, with only a handful of copies appearing at auction in the last 80 years.

. Farnie was a native of Burntisland and educated at St. Andrews where he became 'a keen hand' at golf. He wrote several guide books, edited a Fifeshire newspaper, and in 1863 went to pursue a journalistic career in London, translating many French operas and operettas. He died in Paris in 1889. Hopkinson pp. 29-30; Murdoch 415.