Peverelly's Book of American Pastimes, which covered several sports from badminton to horseracing, is best known for its dominant chapter on base ball, "The National Game." It is the first historical-reference book ever published about the sport, and includes the rosters of the most prominent early clubs with results of games played from their beginnings through 1866. The original 200-page chapter, a seminal work of baseball historiography, is reproduced here in full, supplemented by contemporary images and captions by nineteenth-century baseball historians John Freyer and Mark Rucker.
Freyer and Rucker are both members of the Society for American Baseball Research and repeat authors in Arcadia's Images of Baseball series. Along with an introduction by legendary baseball historian John Thorn they have re-created a classic volume that belongs in the library of all historians of the national game.