Samuels, Chrarles – The Magnificent Rube. The Life and Gaudy Times of Tex Richard

Description

Samuels, Charles ‘The Magnificent Rube. The Life and Gaudy Times of Tex Richard’ 1957 1st ed. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. 301-pages. VG in Good mylar protected brightly colored price clipped dust jacket.

Book Description:
The Magnificent Rube: The Life and Gaudy Times of Tex Rickard is a 301-page definitive biography written by Charles Samuels and published by McGraw-Hill Book Company in 1957.
The book details the sprawling, colorful, and larger-than-life story of George Lewis “Tex” Rickard, one of the most influential sports promoters in American history. Samuels masterfully tracks Rickard’s evolution from a hard-boiled Texas cowboy and Klondike Gold Rush saloon keeper into the premier boxing promoter of the 1920s.
Key historical highlights covered in the book include:
• The “Million-Dollar Gate” Era: Rickard’s promotion of boxing’s legendary heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey. Rickard co-promoted the famous Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier fight in 1921, which became the first boxing match in history to break $1 million in ticket sales.
• The New Madison Square Garden: Rickard’s role as the visionary and founder of the third iteration of New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1925, cementing the arena as the world’s epicenter for sports and entertainment.
• The Goldfield Fight: Promoting the historic, grueling 42-round lightweight championship bout between Joe Gans and Battling Nelson in the desert mining town of Goldfield, Nevada, in 1906.

Physical Design & First Edition Points:
• The Dust Jacket: The true first edition features a highly striking, vibrant yellow and green dust jacket. The front cover prominently displays a full-length black-and-white photograph of Tex Rickard standing in a suit and a cowboy hat. The background features a stylized illustration of a roaring 1920s arena crowd.
• The Binding: Underneath the dust jacket, the hardcover book is typically bound in a two-toned cloth (often dark green or black cloth on the spine with contrasting paper or cloth boards), featuring gilt or colored stamped lettering on the spine.