Included in our February 2nd sale are books from the collection of barrister and former Wallaby, Peter Crittle AO.
Peter played 15 Tests for Australia between 1962 and 1967 and from 1993-99 was president of the New South Wales Rugby Union. He had been vice-president of the Australian Rugby Union since 1994. He was elected president of the Australian Rugby Union in 2001 and served in that role until 2005 when he stood down at the end of his term. In the same year he was awarded the Vernon Pugh Award for distinguished service at the annual International Rugby Board Awards
ceremony in Paris. In 2004 Peter was honoured as an officer of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Besides his time as a player and administrator, Crittle is also well known as an avid Rugby historian and also provided support to members of the Forbes Rugby Club following the Bali bombings in 2002.
Within Peter’s book collection is a variety of material that reflected his interests outside of Rugby. This includes a large selection of titles relating to African exploration. Many are first editions and in lovely bindings. There are books from the estate of Dorothea Mackellar, containing her bookplate, as well as antiquarian titles, Australiana, beautiful old atlases and fine bindings.