The Old Course in the Library of Golf, 1833-1933 has been inspired by the 150th Open Championship this year when The Open returns to the Old Course at St Andrews for the 30th time.
We have focused on 1833 to 1933 so as to start with George Fullerton Carnegie’s first edition of Golfiana and to end with Golf Courses: Design, Construction and Upkeep edited by Martin H.F. Sutton and Dr. Alister MacKenzie’s “St Andrews Manuscript.”
Chronologically arranged, this anthology transports the reader through a hundred critical years of the history of the Old Course using words, artwork and maps that were chosen after a careful review of the approximate 500 books and booklets that premier golf bibliographers count as the total number of such published golf sources for the period 1833-1933.
The Old Course in the Library of Golf, 1833-1933 houses within its covers a pantheon of classic golf authors: Balfour, Bauchope, Bauer, Bennett, Carnegie, Chambers, Clark, Colt, Dalrymple, Darwin, Everard, Farnie, Fleming, Hilton, Hutchinson, Lang, Low, Macdonald, MacKenzie, Simpson, Smith, Sutton, Tulloch and Wethered. Their words, whether in prose or rhyme, describe and illuminate the Old Course as it appeared to them during the period 1833-1933, and their observations not only retain truths, but also resonate with us now, as valuable reference and as enduring respect for this unique and historic terrain and turf at seaside in St Andrews.
Our selections are embellished by wonderful images provided by permission of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews as well as text and images provided by permission of the Bernard Darwin Estate and the Estate of Raymond M. Haddock.
The book’s singular focus is the Old Course itself—not the town, not the history of St Andrews, not the golfing societies nor clubs, not the game nor its personalities, not the championships nor competitions— simply the Old Course itself as expressed timelessly in the exposition, photography, art, and cartography in our chosen sources.
The book is in landscape format, typeset in 14 on 16pt Plantin, printed on acid-free paper, casebound, with dust jacket and with cover and slipcase gold-blocked. The volume is 304 pages and includes more than 150 images, many in colour. Typesetting is by Hughes & Company in Pershore. Printing and binding are by Henry Ling Ltd in Dorset.
Shipping weight is 2.465 kg.