One hundred and sixty five years after a group of students from Cambridge University first nailed their rules of the game of football to a tree, Cambridge City Council agreed to undertake a public art commission to celebrate the ‘Cambridge Rules’ and acknowledge the important role that Parker’s Piece played in the birth of football not just in Cambridge, but nationally and internationally.
Unusual and collectable, this artist bookwork is a scale model of the sculptural piece that sits on Parker’s Piece, Cambridge. It is a journey through Neville Gabie and Alan Ward’s commissioned work, to celebrate the birthplace of football as we know it at Parker’s Piece in Cambridge. It explores the history of the first written rules, the development of the physical piece, the collaboration with Street Child United, and the cultural exchange with the international partners in Brazil, China, Egypt, India and Kenya. The book also reproduces many varied submissions to the cambridgerules1848.com website from the project’s international audience, and is liberally scattered with additional QR coded content that exists on-line, including video and audio.
Technical details: 800 pages, exposed bound with a printed card sleeve, 2 bookmarks and a bespoke box.
Dimensions: 140mm high by 60mm wide and deep
ISBN: 978-1-9164089-0-6
Virtual Book Launch | Kick off: March 18, 7.30pm
Tickets are free, please register through Eventbrite click here
Just prior to the day Cambridge United play Forest Green Rovers in a crucial top-of-the table clash in League 2, join artists Alan Ward and Neville Gabie for a special online launch event chaired by Cambridge Rules book editor Ben East.
Featuring readings and a collection of short films exploring the project in more detail, and of course the rules in many different languages, this informal and entertaining evening is the chance to delve deeper into some of the stories in the project and ask questions of the artists now the stone has been installed for nearly three years.
Unusual and collectable, this artist bookwork is a scale model of the sculptural piece that sits on Parker’s Piece, which also investigates the history of the first written rules, the development of the physical piece, the collaboration with the Street Child United organisation, and the cultural exchange with international partners in Brazil, China, Egypt, India and Kenya.
Limited copies available! click here to purchase from Axis Projects
Now that the final stone has been placed in Egypt, we have been able to go to print on the book of the project. It is a miniature version of the sculpture with a special sleeve. 800 pages of the project development and making, our global partner locations, and many of the submissions to the website from our contributors from around the world.
Thanks to Graphius in Ghent and Antwerp for supplying us with images of it printing, as we were sadly unable to go and see it on press. Printed on an uncoated paper stock using uv presses, it was dry straight off the press allowing them to stack each section (two per sheet) on top of each other.
At the beginning of January we will announce a date for an on-line book launch, share copies with our local and global partners. This will bring the project to an end for us, but of course the website will remain and will continue to grow as posts are added. There will be a limited number of copies of the book available to purchase, details will follow with details of the book launch.
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