Founded in 1866 by Andrew Peck and Irving Snyder, Peck & Snyder Sporting Goods, was instrumental in the growth in popularity of sports in the United States. Based in New York, Peck & Snyder is perhaps best known for introducing the first baseball cards in 1869. Shortly thereafter, in 1875, Peck & Snyder produced one of the first sporting goods catalogs entitled "Peck & Snyder: Price List of Out & Indoor Sports & Pastimes." The company was also instumental in compiling and disseminating rule books for sports that soon became obsessions for the American people. Peck & Snyder continued to sell sporting goods until 1894 when they were purchased by A.G. Spalding & Brothers.
March 2015
The first codification of football rules in the U.S. took place in 1876, when representatives of Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Princeton codified the very first standardized rules of play for the rugby union game. The game of football at this time was in its infancy, and the rules were nearly identical to the English Rugby Football Union's code of 1871. It wasn't until 1882, when changes proposed by Walter Camp were adopted by the Intercollegiate Football Association, that American football became distinctly different from rugby.
On March 13, 2015, a remarkable 1879 Peck & Snyder rule book sold on EBay for $1,846.00. The book, entitled "Latest Revised Rules for Lacrosse, Football, Ten Pins, and Shuffleboard," is one of the earliest known American compilations of football rules, which were organized under the chapter "The Revised and Latest Rules of Football, The Rugby Union Game."
EBay photo - Peck & Snyder Foot Ball rule book
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1879 Peck & Snyder Football Rule Book