For more than a hundred-and-fifty years, the author of one of the earliest croquet booklets in the U.S. has remained a mystery. It wasn’t, it seems, a terribly pressing question, though over the decades an occasional sleuth tried to crack the case. The booklet’s preface was simply signed “J.,” while the title page (above) only indicated it was “By One of the Members” of the Newport Club. As it turns out, when the volume first appeared, the name of the shadowy pen behind it wasn’t such a closely held secret. Friends and family of the author knew the identity of “J,” as did members of the then newly formed Newport Croquet Club. However, almost no hints were left in print, so as the years passed, fewer and fewer people knew the author’s identity.