An A to Z of Sporting Collectibles is a heart-warming illustrated history of 140 years of sports on cigarette cards, gum cards and stickers. Starting in 1880, the book transports us back to the times of our forebears, when sports-card collecting was an all-consuming childhood hobby. The author shares his extensive knowledge of sports cards, gleaned from decades of passionate collecting, alongside hundreds of colour images of unseen rarities from his collection. The book runs from the days of cigarette cards to the era of Panini stickers and features everything in between - cards issued with chewing gum, cards wrapped with chocolate bars and sweets, cards cut from tea packets, cards given in lucky bags, redemption postcards, miniature posters, cereal cards and water-slide transfers. Nowadays, we appreciate these vintage treasures not just for their beauty but for their monetary worth, and the book includes a price guide so you can discover the value of rare sports cards. The A to Z is a 'must' for collectors and all sports fans.

An illustrated history of football trade cards, an epic saga of 1,000 brands and myriad collections. The A-Z traces the earliest cards and stickers - British inventions, both - through a century of sports cards from tobacco cards to Panini stickers, via everything that came in between: footballers issued with chewing gum and sweet cigarettes, lucky bag mementoes, football teams cut from packets of tea, and many more. It chronicles the epoch of our forefathers and the very first football cards, dating back to the 1880s, followed by the era of their children and the earliest stickers - and so the rise of cigarette cards and paper soccer star adhesives. These days, along with our Panini stickers and trading cards, we appreciate these vintage treasures not only for their beauty but also for their value. Fond recollections of childhood passions past and present will warm hearts, while enchanting galleries of rarely seen cards will captivate football fans and collectors alike. Incorporating a guide to values, the A-Z is priceless.