“Ping-Pong,” the game of the…

Early engraving of the craze for table tennis (ping-pong).

The sport originated in Victorian England, where it was played among the upper-class as an after-dinner parlour game.The name “ping-pong” was in wide use before British manufacturer J. Jaques & Son Ltd trademarked it in 1901. It was James W. Gibb, a British enthusiast of table tennis, who discovered novelty celluloid balls on a trip to the US in 1901 and found them to be ideal for the game. This was followed by E.C. Goode who, in 1901, invented the modern version of the racket by fixing a sheet of pimpled, or stippled, rubber to the wooden blade. Table tennis was growing in popularity by 1901 to the extent that tournaments were being organized, books being written on the subject, and an unofficial world championship was held in 1902.

From the original edition of The Graphic.