Good Reading of Old Bowls Books (Cleaned up)

The local Library was always my favorate afternoon visiting place with the great gathering of all the great books and magazines.  Today, with everyone on the World Wide Web (www) there are so many great "Old" Lawn Bowls books now available for reading.

 Now a digital library is an online collection of everything which is published (on web or previously published); and my choice is called 

 Internet Archive, They started 28 years ago (in 1996) as they were recording the World web history. As a non-profit, they build a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.During the last few years they have had legal problems with some attempting to profit from their free distribution of material.  Worth the visit and support.

 Like a paper library, it provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, people with print disabilities, and anyone of the general public crusing the net. "Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge". they write in their website "About us".

"As our web archive grew, so did our commitment to providing digital versions of other published works". "Today our archive contains:

• 835 billion web pages
• 44 million books and texts
• 15 million audio recordings (including 255,000 live concerts)
• 10.6 million videos (including 2.6 million Television News programs)
• 4.8 million images
• 1 million software programs"

Photo (left) is Spalding's Athletic Catalog president James Thaw at his New Jersey Bowling Green Club. ( pre-1900). The "Game of Bowling on the Green or Lawn Bowls" by Greig, James Weir was published by the Spalding's Athletic Library in 1904 as the official Lawn Bowls Publication.

These publications of  24 -30 pages (published before 1907) when the rules of the game were finally published (25 pages) and sold for only 10 cents. The purchase revenue was a contribution of the Scottish Bowls Association which was then approved by the then world Bowls organization of The International Bowling Association (formed in 1899). 

In reading there a lot of interesting facts like where and when the game of bowls was first created. Note at the bottom of Chapter 1 (left) reads 

"Herodotus says (I quote from Beloe's translation) that the Lydians during a great scarity of corn which lasted eighteen years, invented bowls and dice, with many other games, devoting themselves on alternate days to diversions and their necessary repasts. Perhaps, however, they took some "light refreshment" on bowling days, for we can hardly believe games of any kind would for say long period assuage hungry feelings.

Mention of the Lydians of the 6th century world indicates that the game of Bowls is extremely old activity and there is some suggestions that early bowls activity may have been with a stick. 

In reference to today sport of bowls the 1910 rules as published, suggested that if a player contested the bias of a player's bowl it would be check immediately (before the 6th end) and if thought by it action of bias to be illegal the bowl would be send of to the international testing site and the player charged the shipping fee of 2 shillings sixpence. ( 2 shillings sixpence or about 68 US cents in 1910 (when the book was written) value and the equivalent  to $15.96 today. But to know the purchase value; we look at this 50 page book (above) which sold for $0.10 so 6.8 times ($.68) more value or The today's value of $15.96x 6.8 or cost of $108.73.) 

Certainly enough cost to discourage a reason to not use legal bowls). All clubs were expected to have one tested and marked bowl to compare the questionable bowl and the rules said "Competitors in public competition are recommended test and stamped before hand" (page 2 of rules p33 of 1908 book)  If the bowls were questioned and found "maybe" illegal, they were removed and the player was given bowls by the official to finish the game or forfit the game.