John Wisden Publishes the First Cricketers' Almanack — Spring 1864

Cricket annuals were already an established trade. Frederick Lillywhite's Guide to Cricketers ran from 1849, and his uncle James had published cricket scoring sheets even earlier. Wisden saw a commercial opening when the Lillywhite operation began to fragment after Frederick's death in 1866 (a crucial commercial moment that came after Wisden's first edition).

Wisden's retirement coincided with a decision by his business partners to expand the firm's print activities. The Almanack was conceived as much as an advertising vehicle for Wisden's bats and balls as a standalone publication.

John Wisden — known as 'the Little Wonder' for his ability to bowl out an entire side, having taken all ten wickets in an innings, all bowled, for North v South in 1850 — retired from playing in 1863, hampered by rheumatism. He had already founded John Wisden & Co., a sports equipment business in central London, in partnership with George Parr's brother. Looking for a new publishing line and conscious of the rivalry with the Lillywhites, who had dominated cricket annuals for two decades, he commissioned a small almanack for the 1864 season. The first edition was sparse on cricket compared with its modern descendants. It carried scores of the previous season's principal matches, the laws of cricket, the rules of various other sports, and as filler the dates of the battles of the English Civil War, an account of the trial of Charles I, the winners of the St Leger horse race, and the lengths of British canals. It cost a shilling and ran to 112 pages. The print run is unknown but small; surviving copies of the 1864 edition now sell at auction for tens of thousands of pounds. Wisden himself had little to do with the editorial side and died in 1884. His name on the cover, however, was the brand that survived.

“It is intended to supply a great public want — a careful record of the principal matches played in the United Kingdom.”

“Wisden has become to cricket what the Bible is to Christianity.”

The Almanack survived the death of its founder and steadily added the features that made it indispensable: the Five Cricketers of the Year (from 1889), full first-class averages, obituaries, and editorial notes. By the time Sydney Pardon took over as editor in 1891, Wisden had become an authority. The yellow cover and stylised batsman were added in the early twentieth century.