The British Library has acquired a “virtually unobtainable” cricket book after a mysterious donor funded the sale of the copy that once belonged to famed cricket commentator John Arlott.

The anonymous benefactor donated £180,000 after discovering that William Epps’s 1799 book of scorecards from cricket’s early days was not part of any institutional collection.

“The donor is a major book collector based in London who recognised the quality and rarity of the book and was very pleased to be able to provide the funds for the British Library to have the copy,” said Pom Harrington, owner of Peter Harrington, the rare book shop that put the volume up for sale earlier this year.

Epps’ Cricket. A Collection of All the Grand Matches of Cricket Played in England Within Twenty Years, Viz. From 1771 to 1791 is now part of the British Library’s Printed Heritage Collections.

The book records statistics from a critical time for the sport, charting a period when participation in cricket was on the rise, “having developed from a game mostly played by children to a serious sport, with members of the nobility among its keen enthusiasts,” explained Tanya Kirk, lead curator of Printed Heritage Collections 1601-1900 at the British Library. The book is also important because rule changes in 1775 established the nature of the game as we know it today.

Epps “compiled the scores from various handwritten records owned primarily by members of the aristocracy”, added Kirk. Epps is not listed in the English Short Title Catalogue, the authoritative record of publications in English from 1473-1800, and there was no record of the book in any library globally.

“It is rare that a book does not end up in the British Library, but as Epps published it on only a small provincial run, copies are few,” said Harrington. The book was published in “Troy-Town”, Rochester, Kent, and sold in the local area. Just four copies have passed through auction.

Arlott, who commentated BBC Radio’s Test Match Special from 1957 to 1980, was given the book as a gift by his father. Upon retirement, Arlott sold the bulk of his cricket collection, but retained this volume. He died in 1991, and the book was sold by the Arlott estate to the publishers of his autobiography in 1992. The book was then acquired by a collector before ending up at Peter Harrington.

The bookseller initially listed the volume for £225,000 at Firsts, a rare book fair, but when the unnamed donor approached the seller offering to fund the British Library’s acquisition, the price was lowered as “a gesture of goodwill”, said Harrington. “It came as a really pleasant surprise to have the donor contact us about funding a significant donation,” he added.

Kirk said that the library is “absolutely delighted to be able to add this book to the national collection”.