A SCRAPBOOK RELATING TO BOB FITZSIMMONS AND SPARRING PARTNER JACK STELZNER
Album of vintage photography, ephemera, and clippings, most dating from 1896, compiled by Hartley J. Kraft, Sr. of Vallejo, CA, featuring 4 albumen print photographs, 5 1/2 x 7 3/4 inches laid down to larger boards, dating from the 1896 Fitzsimmons fight with Peter Maher, plus additional gelatin silver prints of later date, pages brittle, photos laid down with cello tape, clippings darkened.
Provenance: collected by Jack Stelzner, Bob Fitzsimmons' trainer and sparring partner; by descent to Stelzner's niece, Mrs. Hartley J. Krafts, 1957; willed by Hartley J. Krafts to his longtime caretaker, Dorothy Williams of Vallejo, 1985 (LOA signed by Williams); sold via eBay to Jim and Theresa Earle.

Jack Stelzner (1870-1957) began his boxing career in 1893 in St. Louis. He worked as Sullivan's sparring partner and trainer from c.1894 to 1900, but soon after retired and joined the San Francisco police force.
The photographs in this album of Fitzsimmons' training quarters in Juarez are vivid: in one, Fitzsimmons holds Stelzner's head in a headlock; another shows the exterior of their residence. The photograph of the two men sparring is annotated on the front and reverse, identifying it as having been taken the day after the Maher fight 'after knocking him out in 1 min 25 sec for the Championship of the World.' The February 21, 1896 fight between Fitzsimmons and Peter Maher was the unofficial 1896 World Championship Fight. The fight took place on a sandbar in the Rio Grande just far enough outside of Langtry, TX (where boxing was illegal) to skate regulations. After news of this match spread, James J. Corbett immediately rescinded his retirement and agreed to a match with Fitzsimmons.