Tennis: A Cultural History
The first comprehensive history of tennis, Henry Gillmeister's Tennis may also be considered the first truly scholarly history of any individual sport.\ Supported by a startling wealth of linguistic and documentary research, Gillmeister charts the global evolution of tennis from its origins in the early Middle Ages to the appearance of the modern game in the twentieth century. Along the way, he debunks several firmly established myths about the history of the game, including those surrounding...
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"A definitive account of tennis a splayed from the Middle Ages to the present... will sate the curiosity of the most avid tennis enthusiast."--Publishers Weekly"Well Researched... [Gillmeister] keeps a light tone even when vilifying minute details like the physical layout of Henry V's tennis court."--Library Journal"Extraordinary"--The Economist " . . . the book is exemplary, and the scholarship particularly of the first five chapters sets a high standard for the history of any sport." — American Studies InternationalThe first comprehensive history of tennis, Henry Gillmeister's Tennis may also be considered the first truly scholarly history of any individual sport.Supported by a startling wealth of linguistic and documentary research, Gillmeister charts the global evolution of tennis from its origins in the early Middle Ages to the appearance of the modern game in the twentieth century. Along the way, he debunks several firmly established myths about the history of the game, including those surrounding the invention of the Davis Cup. Rare photographs and never before published medieval and renaissance drawings generously adorn the text, and a treasure trove of bibliographical information provides its coda.A delight for the sports fan and the scholar alike, Tennis will prove the athorative text on tennis for years to come. Publishers Weekly First published in Germany in 1990, this detailed history has been translated by its author, a professor of medieval English at the University of Bonn. The work offers a definitive account of tennis as played from the Middle Ages to the present. In the first five of nine chapters, Gillmeister treats the origins of the game, probably an offshoot of the French jeu de paumes, a kind of handball. He also traces the etymology of the word tennis (from French tenez!, which means "stick with it,"he concludes) and such terms as advantage and deuce, both from the late 16th century, adding the surprise that the wordsmiths who derive love from l'oeuf (egg) cannot be right. The last four chapters trace the development of lawn tennis, begun in the 1870s in England then exported to France, the U.S. and Germany. This rambling encyclopedic tome with its 120 b&w photos and 16 pages of color prints will sate the curiosity of the most avid tennis enthusiast. (Oct.)
List of platesList of figuresPreface1The origins of tennis: the monks' racket12The tennis games of the Middle Ages353The language of tennis844Tennis in Renaissance literature1295Tennis in the German ballhouse1466Lawn tennis: the sturdy bastard1747Lawn tennis in America2078Continental colonies: lawn tennis in France2239Lawn tennis under the Kaiser234Notes304Bibliography411Notes on the illustrations435Index440
\ From the Publisher"A definitive account of tennis a splayed from the Middle Ages to the present... will sate the curiosity of the most avid tennis enthusiast."\ -Publishers Weekly,\ "Well Researched... [Gillmeister] keeps a light tone even when vilifying minute details like the physical layout of Henry V's tennis court."\ -Library Journal,\ "Extraordinary"\ -The Economist,\ " . . . the book is exemplary, and the scholarship particularly of the first five chapters sets a high standard for the history of any sport."\ -American Studies International,\ \ \ \ \ \ Publishers Weekly\ - Publisher's Weekly\ First published in Germany in 1990, this detailed history has been translated by its author, a professor of medieval English at the University of Bonn. The work offers a definitive account of tennis as played from the Middle Ages to the present. In the first five of nine chapters, Gillmeister treats the origins of the game, probably an offshoot of the French jeu de paumes, a kind of handball. He also traces the etymology of the word tennis from French tenez!, which means "stick with it,"he concludes and such terms as advantage and deuce, both from the late 16th century, adding the surprise that the wordsmiths who derive love from l'oeuf egg cannot be right. The last four chapters trace the development of lawn tennis, begun in the 1870s in England then exported to France, the U.S. and Germany. This rambling encyclopedic tome with its 120 b&w photos and 16 pages of color prints will sate the curiosity of the most avid tennis enthusiast. Oct.\ \ \ BooknewsThe cover painting shows an 18th-century Italian game of tennis, and the opening chapter is intriguingly subtitled "Tennis and the Devil." Gillmeister linguistics, U. of Bonn provides a sociohistorical survey of this popular sport. Illustrations and photos as well as commentary trace the game from its origins as "the monk's racket" <-->an attenuated medieval form of football<-->, through Renaissance literary references to it, to its evolution as lawn tennis in America and Europe. Distributed in the US by Books International. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.\ \ \ \ \ The EconomistExtraordinary.\ \ \ \ \ Publisher's WeeklyA definitive account of tennis a splayed from the Middle Ages to the present... will sate the curiosity of the most avid tennis enthusiast.\ \
