“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Sunday June 2nd — —

The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Sunday June 2nd — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Sunday June 2nd — —

Mapp Editions

In the believe that the illustrated books of the past should have a digital life, Mapp Editions was founded in 2011 in London by acclaimed art publisher Michael Mack, antiquarian bookseller and entrepreneur John Koh, and renowned digital designer Jean-Michel Dentand. Now working with international renowned museums, libraries, collections, curators and artists, they already published an extremely beautiful and fascinating list of books which are available on your iPad. Amongst them these rare works on sport in China, originally published for the use of English communities in the ports of Tientsin (Tianjin) and Amoy (Xiamen). They really incite our imagination and love for collecting! 

When swiping thru the beautifully captured antique pages one can almost smell the old paper, and a rich and unknown heritage is coming to life again.
Mapp Editions on the ‘Sports in 19th Century Amoy – Club Rules’: “All the books bear the signature of James W. Carrall, commissioner of customs in Amoy and owner of the volumes. Carrall was a member or the Koolangsu Lawn Tennis and Cricket Club for the 1895/6 season, located on the beautiful island now known as Gulangyu Island. The island became dominated by English communities in the late nineteenth century, as this club indicates, due its proximity to the port of Amoy, which became a treaty port after China’s loss in the First Opium War (1839–42).

The laws of lawn tennis, hockey and badminton are promoted in these books published between 1892 and 1896, some in China. A total of four works are showcased: the earliest, Lawn Tennis: “It’s Laws, with Notes and Remarks thereon” was published in Tientsin in 1892; and fastened to the inside cover sits a second, smaller rule book for the same club, “Rules of the Game of Hockey” from a year later, 1893; the third publication is entitled “The Rules of the Koolangsu Lawn Tennis and Cricket Club”, and the last, “Directions for Playing Badminton is not dated.”

Make sure to keep an eye on Mapp Editions and all the interesting stuff they republish for our digital generation.