“I have recently inherited my uncle’s collection of books, which includes a large number of Wisden Almanacks,” began the explanatory blurb to a listing that appeared on eBay in November 2006.

The Wisden-collecting world may never have seen such understatement. All told, there were 504 volumes making up an extraordinary lot. As well as complete sets in both hard and softback (owning a set of either is the holy grail for most collectors), there were around 240 duplicates.

The seller’s uncle had lived in Church Stretton, Shropshire, and no one, not even specialist book-dealers whose livelihoods depend on scarce Wisdens, seems to have had an inkling of the treasures he had amassed. Certainly the wording on eBay suggests the vendor — a woman in Surrey — had not appreciated what had just become hers.

For collectors, the trickiest years to come by — the earliest editions apart — are those from the war years, when reports of first-class cricket gave way to pages of obituaries, and Wisden’s publishers cut back on print-runs.

“Oddly, some years have no duplicates,” the eBay blurb continued, “whilst other years have up to eight copies! Why he had so many duplicates is a mystery. For instance, there are loads of the thin copies from both wars . . . six for 1916.”

The 1916 Wisden, which contains the obituaries of both W. G. Grace and Victor Trumper, is the most collectable of all the 20th-century editions.

The lot had an opening bid of £1, so it was no surprise that the seller was inundated with inquiries, forcing her to remove the sale from the internet. Quite what happened subsequently to the volumes is unclear. One dealer was said to have had an offer of £250,000 turned down; another forecast that the collection would surface at a major London auction house.

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