The All Blacks in Springbokland.

The publication of chronicles of sports teams and heroes is not a new phenomenon. Sporting events, including accounts of overseas rugby tours, provided much bread-and-butter jobbing printing for local printers. Throughout New Zealand's printing history, sports (particularly rugby and cricket), gardening and cookery books have continually featured in the top three genres of published material. The 1928 South African tour spawned a number of books and ephemera, including this "official" history by the team's vice-captain. Nicholls wanted to memorialise his team's victory for all present and future "ruggerites" much in the same fashion that Geo. H. Dixon did for the famous "Invincibles" tour of 1905-6. The title-page functions very much like an advertisement for the book - a common occurrence in the history of printing - and includes a brief content summary as well as the contemporary price. Although there are a number of typefaces included on the title-page, the attempt to render the essential details using the principles of symmetrical typography have generally been successful. And, if blow-by-blow coverage in print did not satisfy the fans, they could sing along with the latest sheet music printed by Watkins' local competitor, Ferguson & Osborn.