Coffee Table Book of: American Football (Hardcover)

Description

Coffee Table Book of: American Football is a large-format coffee table book of American football, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: the ball and the gear, the field and its goalposts from first light to nightfall, and play seen from far off.

It opens with the ball: in dewy grass at sunrise, old and plum-shaped on a shelf, white on dark grass at dusk, in flight against a blue sky and on its kicking tee in the frost. Then the gear: old leather helmets and modern ones with grey face masks, shoulder pads in a wooden locker, studded boots on an old stair, a dark blue jersey on a whitewashed wall and a mouthguard in its case.

Then the gridiron: an orange pylon at the corner of an end zone, hash marks painted on the grass, a line-marking cart at sunrise, a ball on the goal line at dusk, a puddle by the sideline in the rain and a long empty field under low mist. Then the goalposts: a slingshot goal in thick fog, an H-shaped goal at dusk, an orange ribbon blowing from an upright and a ball high over the crossbar.

Then the game’s places, hour by hour: a small concrete grandstand at sunrise, old wooden bleachers at dusk, floodlights over a dark field, a kicking tee half buried in blowing snow, a grill and two camp chairs at dawn, the lights of a hidden field coming on above bare trees, a chalk line running into the midday haze and a goal dark against an orange sunset.

The game’s beginnings follow: an old round ball by a weathered fence, an old rugby ball beside a laced football, a wedge of players in canvas jackets and leather helmets, and an old chair alone in an empty winter room with a small football on its seat.

Then the officials: a yellow penalty flag on the grass, a referee’s striped shirt, a whistle and an old stopwatch, two padded poles with their chain and a blue bean bag.

Toward the end, six-man, flag and touch football: a small wooden goalpost on the open prairie, a flag belt on the grass and a game of touch in an autumn park; and a ball in the gutter of a leafy street.

Short notes run through the book: white balls once used for practice at night, the steady spin of a spiral, the forward pass becoming legal in 1906, and the padded blocking sled used to build strength and technique.

Printed in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a hardcover with the art printed on the case.