Hi All

I am interested in compiling the history of the rules of our great
sport. I already have versions from multiple years going back
to 1872 and have all the major changes ( woods, spin serve,
carries and so on ) covered from 1962 to present, but there's a
big hole in my versions between 1875 and 1962.

So- does anyone have old copies of the rules available from
the first half of the last century?

Any format printed or electronic would be fine- but in public domain
if at all possible as I would like to post the rules.

thanks
Stan Bischof
www.worldbadminton.com

PS- as an aside: anybody know when Ladies singles became
an 11 point game?

Wow, Stan Bischof! That's a name I've not heard in quite some time. I recall hearing that name back in the early 80s -- a time when I was playing D & C tournaments in the Bay Area (and So Cal to a lesser extent).

Stan, you might try perusing some of the community college & public libraries. You just might find some old badminton text books that harken back to the 1950s (and even the late '40s). I recall seeing Winning Badminton (Davidson and Gustavon) in quite a few libraries some years back. Altho the 1964 printing appears to be the most common, you might find an earlier edition from the early or mid-50s. Not absolutely sure if all the rules appeared in this particular book, but it's worth a shot.

Check this link (http://www.biblioz.com/main.php?action=3&i=4352061&record=5) for an early copy.

Also check out the references listed on the Wikipedia page:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton)

I believe that it was 1901 when the badminton court shape & size were standardized -- prior to this time courts were sometimes rectangular but oft times employed an hourglass shape. The IBF was created in 1934.

A few other informative links:
sportsknowhow.com/badminton/history/badminton-history.shtml (http://www.sportsknowhow.com/badminton/history/badminton-history.shtml)
www.knowthegame.co.uk/default.asp?id=7 (http://www.knowthegame.co.uk/default.asp?id=7)
www.cs.ucr.edu/~dutran/badminton.html (http://www.cs.ucr.edu/%7Edutran/badminton.html)

Good luck with your ambitious project.