Badminton Library

The series was dedicated to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, "one of the best and keenest sportsmen of our time".

Explaining his purpose, the Duke said:[1] ...there is no modern encyclopaedia to which the inexperienced man, who seeks guidance in the practice of various British sports and pastimes, can turn for information".The Badminton Library was originally published in twenty-eight volumes between 1885 and 1896.

In 1902, the final entirely new volume, Motors and Motor-Driving, covered a new sport, and lastly there was a new edition of Cricket in 1920.

It considers that "England may be looked upon as the Home of Cycling" and quotes Thomas Huxley's words to the Royal Society: "Since the time of Achilles, no improvement had added anything to the speed or strength attainable by the unassisted powers of man", commenting that a bicyclist had recently raced 146 miles in only ten hours.

[1] J. K. Stanford's fictional game shot George Hysteron-Proteron was said to have been educated at Eton, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and the Badminton Library.