Botham

Botham (Collectible 1994 Cricket Autobiography in Dust Jacket)

The Candid Life Story of England's Great All-Rounder, from the 1981 Ashes to the Controversial Rebel Tour of South Africa

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Botham: My Autobiography
• Publisher: CollinsWillow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, London
• Publication Date: 1994
• ISBN-13: 9780002183161
• ISBN-10: 0002183161
• Edition Details: First published 1994; reprinted 1994.
• Binding: Publisher's dark cloth boards with a printed dust jacket, gilt lettering to spine.
• Physical Format: Large octavo hardcover, illustrated with black and white photographic plates.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Good (G)
• Exterior / Boards: The dark green-black cloth boards are solid, with a few small pale marks and a scuffed patch near the centre of the front board. The spine is straight with no visible lean. The top edge of the text block is lightly toned.
• Interior: The pages are clean and cream-toned, with no markings, and the binding is tight. The book is illustrated with black and white photographs in plate sections.
• The Dust Jacket: Present, and protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover. The front panel shows scuffing and surface wear, particularly across the portrait. There is some wear to the spine near the foot, and the gilt title is slightly rubbed. The back panel carries a colour photograph of Botham fishing, with the barcode.

Synopsis & Historical Value

Botham: My Autobiography is the life story of Ian Botham, the England all-rounder, published in London by CollinsWillow in 1994. It follows his life and career from his early years, and includes his marriage to Kath and the controversial rebel tour to South Africa.

The 1981 Ashes series lies at the heart of Botham's cricketing legend. It has since come to be known as Botham's Ashes, and the memoir offers his own account of the career built around that summer and its aftermath.

A readable, well-illustrated sporting memoir in its dust jacket, this is a worthwhile copy for collectors of cricket literature and for those interested in the sporting world of the 1980s and early 1990s, including the South African rebel tours.

Author Profile: Ian Botham

Ian Terence Botham was born on 24 November 1955 in Heswall, Cheshire. He played 102 Test matches for England, scoring 5,200 runs and taking 383 wickets, and has been inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

He was knighted in 2007 for services to cricket and charity. His other books include Botham's Century: My 100 Great Cricketing Characters and Head On: Ian Botham: The Autobiography.