{"product_id":"coffee-table-book-of-the-sport-of-bowling-paperback","title":"Coffee Table Book of: The Sport of Bowling (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003eCoffee Table Book of: The Sport of Bowling is a large-format coffee table book of bowling, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: pins turned from maple, balls old and new, the lanes with their dots and arrows, the machines that set the pins, quiet halls from first light to night, halls in the snow and by the sea, old garden alleys and bowlers seen from high behind, anonymous in plain clothes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt opens with the pin, the ball and the lane: a pin alone on maple boards, the long view down a lane, first light in a small bare hall, the pins in their triangle seen from above, an old ball of dark wood, rain at dusk outside a lit hall, a deep blue ball, the dots on the approach, a bowler standing ready, a lone maple in autumn leaf and maple blocks glued into a post.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen the holes, the line and the lane at night: the finger holes of a red ball, the foul line, the pit of an old alley under an empty seat, pins glowing under blue light, a bowler on a lit lane in a dark hall at night, cream and brown shoes, a green ball rolling the last way to the pins, a lane seen from directly above and skittles in an old stone barn.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen old alleys and the working lane: the back of a pinsetting machine, a bowler in old-fashioned clothes at an open garden alley, maple meeting pine across an old lane, fog round a hall, a lone pin left standing, an old alley in a brick basement, an old hard rubber ball, the end of the oil, pins flying apart, stone pins and a stone ball on sand and the warped lanes of a hall long closed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen the far end, storm and snow: the lane seen back from inside the pit, the aiming arrows seen from above, lightning in the high windows of a hall in a storm, a pin taking shape on a lathe, a bowler crossing a car park strewn with leaves on an autumn evening, fallen pins in the pit, a roofed garden alley deep in snow and the boards worn pale behind the foul line.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShort notes run through the book, on the lane and its measures, the pin and its maple, the ball, the rules of play, the machines and the old games, from skittles and ninepins to the early alleys: a pin weighs between 3 pounds 6 ounces and 3 pounds 10 ounces, until 1905, balls were made of lignum vitae, a very hard wood, blocks of hard maple are glued together into a rough post, and pins must be made of new, sound, hard maple.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrinted in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a paperback.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cedar Pine Editions","offers":[{"title":"Perfect Bound","offer_id":68148920418608,"sku":"9671456004679","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0262\/2357\/5085\/files\/9671456004679.jpg?v=1792635122","url":"https:\/\/www.thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk\/products\/coffee-table-book-of-the-sport-of-bowling-paperback","provider":"The Great British Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}