An A to Z of Sporting Collectibles is a heart-warming illustrated history of 140 years of sports on cigarette cards, gum cards and stickers.

Starting in 1880, the book transports us back to the times of our forebears, when sports-card collecting was an all-consuming childhood hobby.

Author Carl Wilkes shares his extensive knowledge of sports cards, gleaned from decades of passionate collecting, alongside hundreds of colour images of unseen rarities from his collection.

Carl helped create the collectible sports cards scene of today. In the 1980s, he penned articles on cards for university publications. In the 1990s, he published 12 issues of the seminal Football Card Collector Magazine and created the world's first sports cards website.

He has since contributed many articles to newspapers, periodicals and books and has spoken about his subject on TV. He is the author of An A to Z of Football Collectibles.

The book runs from the days of cigarette cards to the era of Panini stickers and features everything in between - cards issued with chewing gum, cards wrapped with chocolate bars and sweets, cards cut from tea packets, cards given in lucky bags, redemption postcards, miniature posters, cereal cards and water-slide transfers.

Nowadays, we appreciate these vintage treasures not just for their beauty but for their monetary worth, and the book includes a price guide so you can discover the value of rare sports cards.

The A to Z is a 'must' for collectors and all sports fans.