Wisden Cricketers' Almanack "The Little Wonder" was John Wisden's nickname. "Wisden" is a small-paged but a very thick book (over 1,500 pages in modern editions) with a distinctive bright yellow cover that it has carried since the 75th edition in 1938. Prior to that, covers varied between yellow, buff and salmon pink. That edition was also the first to display the famous woodcut of two cricketers, by Eric Ravilious, on its cover. It is published each April, just before the start of the English domestic cricket season. Since 2003 the woodcut has been replaced as the main feature of the front cover by
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack impressions. In more recent years sales of the 2006 edition exceeded 50,000 in total. The size of the print run was based on the publisher's belief that England's successful Ashes campaign the previous summer would attract considerable public interest. Although unsupported by any reliable documentation, it is almost certain that print runs were reduced during the First World War. The 1916 edition, also containing as it does the obituary of W G Grace, is the most expensive 20th century "Wisden". The smallest recent print runs are believed to be for the years 1969 to 1971. Collecting "Wisden"s is a popular