Inscription, illustration found inside 1908's "The Yale Cup"

This copy of The Yale Cup, one of the volumes within the the suitably-snooty-sounding Phillips Exeter Series by Albertus T. Dudley (which sounds like a name from the Potterverse), was published in 1908 by Lothrop, Lee & Shephard Co. of Boston, Massachusetts.

The book is dedicated "to the many PLEASANT YOUNG FRIENDS who, consciously or unconsciously, have assisted in the making of this book," a phrasing which could be read in an unsettling light, if the reader so chooses.

The Yale Cup features chapters titled "Mr. Worldy Wiseman," "The Fury of a Patient Man," "The Socialist," "Lessons in Hurdling," and "Honk, Honk."

At the end of the book — SPOILER ALERT — the Yale Cup is won by Samuel Wadsworth Archer.

Here's the inscription that was penned in the front of the book more than 107 years ago...

It seems that people had as much difficult with the proper use of quotation marks a century ago as they do in modern times. Was Thomas J. Kean Jr. truly a "good" boy? Who is "Aunt Minnie," really?

Finally, with the track and field events scheduled to begin at the Rio Olympics in a few days, here's a look at The Yale Cup's frontispiece, which is an illustration by Charles Copeland. Those are some really high hurdles!