I have republished Scientific Wrestling by George Bothner. The download is, as always, no cost. http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/scientific-wrestling/7284373 Back Cover: George Bothner, considered alternately the "most Scientific" and best "defensive wrestler" of his day, penned this classic of Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling in 1912 for Fox's sports library. Bothner, a native of New York, began his wrestling career at 13 years old and, according to The Bryan Times, as a "youth" won the amateur 125 lb. title and then, a bare two hours later, won the 158 lb. title. In his amateur career, lasting 7 years, he never lost a contest. His professional career, spanning nearly two decades, began in 1896 under Hugh Leonard at the New York Athletic Club. In 1899 he defeated Tom Riley to win the Lightweight Championship, successfully defending his title twice. He became an immensely popular wrestler, a SuperStar by today's standards. During this time, he fought exhibitions matches with greats such as George Hackenshcmidt and was a pioneer in the wildly popular cross-discipline "Wrestling versus Jiu Jitsu" matches. Notably, he won against Katsukuma Higashi in 1905 in the early years of the fad. 9 years later, in 1914, at the age of 48, Bothner defended the honor of Catch-as-Catch-Can wrestling against noted Jiu Jitsu exponent Tarro Miyake, retiring afterward. Bothner taught wrestling for the majority of his life. His wrestling school, based in New York, remained open until at least his 80th year. This manual, penned at the height of his career, is well written, comprehensive, and lavished with more than 60 instructional photographs as well as pictures of wrestling greats. This is truly a "must have" for the Catch-as-Catch-Can practitioner and a valuable resource for grapplers, and martial historians. Peace favor your sword, Kirk
I have three more scanned in and ready to start work on, all Boxing. First, I have "The Modern Art of Boxing" (courtesy of Terry Brown) from which Milo and Linacre excerpt Mendoza's Lessons. The full text, nearly 50 pages. Second, I have Doran's "Science of Self-Defense," 1889 (courtesy of Ken Pfrenger). 122 pages of bare knuckle goodness. Third I have Shaw's "Teacher of Sparring," 1886 (courtesy of Slippery Rock University Library). These are all scanned in and awaiting transcription. However, I will be taking a short hiatus in order to work on "Banned from Boxing" for potential submission to a "real" publisher. I promised Dwight, James, and a few others that I'd go ahead and do so and then gave myself a deadline to do it. So I need to get off my duff and get to work on the re-writes, additions, and changes that I want to make for submission. Peace favor your sword, Kirk
