This spectacular item was a "furoku" or bonus book given to purchasers of the May 1951 issue of Shonen Club (Youth Club) magazine. The hardbound book has an unusual diecut design. Victor Starffin's image appears on the front cover and Hideo Fujimoto (HOF) is pictured on the back cover. Each inside page is devoted to one of the game's great stars at the time, with a large, round player portrait and player information.

While we have seen copies of this thin, hard cover book from time to time, we have never before seen a copy that has been autographed by each of the 14 players profiled inside! Each player has signed his name in ink over his image in the book. Based on the styles of the signatures, the autographs appear to have been signed c.1951.

Victor Starffin (HOF) (1916-1957) and Hideo Fujimoto (HOF) (1918-1997) have autographed their images on the front and back covers respectively. HOFers profiled inside with autographs include Fumio Fujimura (Mr. Tigers) (1916-1992), Makoto Kozuru (single season RBI record) (1922-2003), Tetsuharu Kawakami (God of Batting) (1920-2003), Hiroshi Oshita (Kawakami's rival) (1922-1979), Michio Nishizawa (major leaguer at age 15) (1921-1977), Juzo Sanada (1923-1994), Atsushi Aramaki (1926-1971), Takehiko Bessho (1922-1999), Shigeru Chiba (1919-2002) and Kaoru Betto (1920-1999).

The book is also signed on the front cover by a previous owner of the item, who has also added information in Japanese about several of the players featured on inside pages.

This item would be an important addition to the collection of any vintage autograph enthusiast.

Size: 9" x 6 3/4". 14 pages. Hard cover.

Condition: Autographs--Mostly 6 to 7 out of 10. Book--Good, but does have some player information added in ink by a previous owner. In any case, this is a rare and special item. The winner will be the owner of the only taba of this style that has ever been seen in the hobby.