Presented is a terrific vintage football find - an 1897-1914 collection of 16 Spalding's Foot Ball Guides. The guides are all edited by famed football maven Walter Camp, and one guide is included from 1887, 1989-1901, & 1903-14. The guides measure 5x6.75", and they run from 161-300+ pages. The guides are very comprehensive. Generally, each contains the current football rules, in great detail. They also have a thorough review of the previous year's season, numerous team and individual photos, and forecasts for the year ahead. Also included are national schedules of not only college but of many high schools. Particularly valuable features are Walter Camp's All-American selections for the previous year. Camp was known as the "Father of Football." He played at Yale University, and he was the coach of Yale when the team won the consensus National Championship in 1888, '91, and '92. Camp was heavily involved in the Collegiate Foot Ball Rules Committee from football's earliest days, and Camp is responsible for creating the line of scrimmage out of the rugby scrum, and of instituting a series of downs for the offense. Some of football's earliest stars have a write-up and a photo, including Carlilse's incredible all-around athlete, and Olympic hero, Jim Thorpe. Each of these fascinating guides is over a century old, with two of them dating to the 1800s. Thus, there are the expected imperfections, such as occasional partial paper loss, corner wear, some smudges, some slight darkening, minor small stains, small partial rips, folds, etc. Yet, such imperfections are remarkably limited over the sixteen guides, for a collection well over a century old. In that context, the guides have been well-preserved, and if not for the dates on the covers and the content, could easily pass for a collection of football guides of half their age. The collection represents a wonderful opportunity for a vintage football aficionado to possess these riveting, classic football guides.