Van Loan, Charles – Inside the Ropes

Description

Van Loan, Charles ‘Inside the Ropes’ 1913 1st edition. Small, Maynard and Company, Boston. 411-pages. Good + condition with some fading of lettering on spine. Has a book stamp of ‘Killingly Farm Barre, Mass Feb. 17 1927’ inside the front cover. In 1927, Killingly Farm was a prominent dairy estate in Barre, Massachusetts. It was part of the estate of Colonel William Alexander Gaston, a highly prominent Boston lawyer, banker (President of National Shawmut Bank), and a Massachusetts political figure.

The 1913 first edition hardcover of Inside the Ropes by Charles E. Van Loan is a 411-page collection of boxing short stories published in Boston by Small, Maynard and Company. Written during the resurgence of the American sports fiction boom, it offers a colorful and often humorous look into the characters, mechanics, and culture of the early 20th-century prize ring.

Book Details:
• Author: Charles Emmett Van Loan (1876–1919, a highly popular contemporary sports journalist and fiction writer who specialized in baseball, horse racing, and boxing)
• Publisher: Small, Maynard and Company, Boston
• Publication Year: 1913 (First Edition)
• Format: Hardcover octavo (8vo), originally bound in dark blue cloth featuring tan/cream title lettering on the front cover and spine.
• Length: 411 pages
• Illustrator: Features period-accurate sports illustrations and plates executed by artist Arthur Hutchins.

Content & Overview:
• Eleven Pugilistic Tales: The text features 11 distinct, fast-paced short stories covering a wide spectrum of boxers, managers, promoters, and hangers-on.
• Realities of the 1910s Ring: While the stories lean into entertainment and humor, modern readers and historians note that Van Loan’s underlying commentary on the broader business—handling fighter contracts, gym training dynamics, and media hyping—still accurately reflects the culture of the sport today.
• Anachronistic Elements: True to fiction written in 1913, the prose contains localized slang and period viewpoints regarding race and class that are highly reflective of the era’s social norms.