Smithsonian Books Releases Game Faces

Smithsonian Books has released Game Faces: Early Baseball Cards from the Library of Congress by Peter Devereaux. The book showcases rare and colorful baseball cards from the Library of Congress’ Benjamin K. Edwards Collection, bringing to life an era of American history that saw the game explode in popularity.

Marrying gems from the collection’s 2,100 baseball cards to images of American life from 1887 to 1914, the book also offers insight into the players and the game, giving readers a view of both baseball’s development and American culture at the turn of the 20th century. The book highlights cards depicting many of the game’s first stars—including Ty Cobb, Cy Young and Christy Mathewson—as well as less widely known figures, shown with extravagant ornamentation and boldly juxtaposed colors that render the cards works of art in their own right. Game Faces is a rich history of the baseball card and the ways that it has illustrated and influenced American culture as a whole.

About the Author

Devereaux is a writer-editor at the Library of Congress and author of The Card Catalog: Books, Cards, and Literary Treasures. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections.

About the Book

Title: Game Faces: Early Baseball Cards from the Library of Congress
Author: Peter Devereaux and the Library of Congress
On-Sale Date: 10/23/18
Price: $24.95 / Pages: 168
ISBN: 978-1-58834-634-6
Smithsonian Books

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SI-575-2018