William Epps (died 1833) was an English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

writer and historian who was active in the late 18th century. He is noted for compiling ''Grand Matches of Cricket 1771 to 1791'', published by Rochester Publishing Co. in 1799. His work is a recognised source and was used by

Arthur Haygarth Arthur Haygarth (4 August 1825 – 1 May 1903) was a noted English amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians. He played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Sussex between 1844 and 1861, as wel ...

for his ''Scores & Biographies'' series.

, ''Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744-1826)'', Lillywhite, 1862. In 2023, ''Grand Matches of Cricket 1771 to 1791'' was offered by Peter Harrington Rare Books for £225,000. The copy belonged to iconic cricket commentator and book collector

John Arlott Leslie Thomas John Arlott, (25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991) was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's '' Test Match Special''. He was also a poet and wine connoisseur. With his poetic phraseology, he becam ...

. An anonymous cricket enthusiast contributed funds to enable it to be acquired by the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

. It is now part of the Printed Heritage Collections at the British Library. Johnson, Alex (July 2023)
One of the World's Rarest Cricket Books Acquired by British Library
''Fine Books & Collections.''

References

Cricket writers Year of birth unknown 1833 deaths {{England-cricket-bio-stub