The BOOK of TENNIS RACKETS, 1999 Edition

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Now, for the English-speaking world, Siegfried Kuebler, an avid collector of rackets and the inventor of the wide-body racket, has translated his 1995 German volume, Buch der TENNISRACKETS, into English. (His new book, BOOK OF TENNIS RACKETS, is subtitled, from the beginning in the 16th century until about 1990.) Not only has he accomplished this huge and important undertaking, he has also added significant new material to this already comprehensive reference source.

The 1995 edition, even being mostly in German, was still quite useful to collectors as much material was still readable and the pictures were, of course, perfectly useful without translation. The book covers are nearly identical, belying the huge improvements found in the new translation. The 1999 edition has seen a dramatic increase in the material and the presentation of reference information. Weighing in at over 7 pounds, the new edition adds both 2 pounds and over 200 pages to this hefty tome. The bad news is that you will have to read it at a table or the blood to your legs will be cutoff by the weight as you read spend hours perusing this valuable material.

There are four main parts to both editions, listed below with the page counts for both editions.
  1. Preliminary, Introduction, Historical Overview (was 34 pages, now 51 pages)
  2. Manufacturers, or Makers and Models (was 320 pages, now 433 pages)
  3. Patents (was 62 pages, now 118 pages)
  4. Appendix (was 7 pages, now 33 pages)

Overall (was 423 pages, now 635 pages)


While the main focus of Mr. Kuebler's book is on the technical aspects of the racket, his discussion of the history of the sport is a good summary and more than adequately provides information for the collector of 20th century rackets. He also reviews rackets made of other materials and ends his recapitulation with the early 1990s as by then the number of variations for any model was mind-boggling due to the manufacturing techniques then in place. Moreover, his new discussions relating to the technical aspects of rackets are particularly useful to modern collectors.


IF YOU ARE A SERIOUS COLLECTOR OF TENNIS RACKETS, YOU NEED THIS BOOK.

This book represents the latest, and arguably, the most important addition to the field of tennis racket collecting.
BUY IT! It can be ordered directly from Mr. Kuebler at the following link.
website: www.racketantiques.com
email: Siegfried.Kuebler@t-online.de

Copyright © 2000 Clark H. Bensen, All Rights Reserved.


Updates or Additions? email to: clark@polidata.net Attn: Clark.
Rackets Home Page: WOOD TENNIS RACKETS, A Collector's Guide
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updated: 2000-Oct-31