Henry Downes Miles 1880 Pugilistica The History Of British Bareknuckle Boxing

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Pugilistica
Being One Hundred and Forty-Four Years of
The History
Of
British Boxing
Containing
Lives Of The Most Celebrated Pugilists and Full Reports Of Their Battles From Contemporary Newspapers and Periodcals,  With Authentic Portraits, From Original Prints, Paintings Personal Anecdotes, And Sketches From The Principal Patrons Of The P. R., Etc
The Only Complete and Chronological History of the Ring,  From Fig And Broughton, 1719-40, To The Last Championship Battle Between King And Heenan, In December 1863
In Three Volumes
by
Henry Downes Miles

Hardcover. 8vo. Published by Weldon & Co, London, UK. No Date (1880). 3 Volumes. Vol 1: viii, xvi, 508 pgs, Vol 2: iv, 538 pgs, Vol 3: 528 pgs.

Bound in illustrated cloth boards with titles present to the spine and front board. Volume I is worn and scuffed to the board edges.  Boards have light shelf-wear present to the extremities. No ownership marks present. Foxing present. Text is clean and free of marks. Volume I is several loose signatures.
 
Lives of the most celebrated pugilists; full reports on their battles from contemporary newspapers, with authentic portraits, personal anecdotes, and sketches of the principal patrons of the prize ring, forming a complete history of the bare-knuckle ring from Fig and Boughton, 1719-40, to the last championship battle between King and Heenan, in December 1863.

Overall, a very good set of this monumental work on British boxing from the bare-knuckle days to the Victorian era, first published in 1880.