Toolemera

Yeah and verily I have returned from the EAIA Annual Meeting in Hyannis, MA. Miles Standish made an appearance at the Sat nite banquet to regail us with tales of his escapades as well as some of the true life down and dirty facts of the life of the Living History Museum experience. Which, by the why, is why you should consider joining the mind boggling named ALHFAM and also found here ALHFAM. As I expected, I was one of the younger of crowd. As I also expected, my elders out walked, out talked and out lasted me for the...

My favorite author, Mr. Temple Thorold, wrote not only his famous book, Our Workshop, he also wrote two serialized articles for Routledge's Boy's Annual which was the yearly compilation of Routledge's Boy's magazine. In 1866, Thorold wrote a series entitled Our Workshop, which became his one and only book... you guessed it: Our Workshop. Almost had you there, didn't I? In 1867, Thorold wrote another serialized article entitled: The Lathe And How To Use It: Or, Principles And Practices Of Plain Turning. Being the book guy that I am, I obtained a copy of the 1867 volume and excerpted the...

Yes, you heard it here first. Charles Godfrey Leland, that odd fellow from the 19th century has done it again. He's gone and reprinted his famous book on wood carving, titled, strangely enough: A Manual Of Wood Carving by Charles G. Leland, revised by John J. Holtzapffel 1891 The peculiar thing is that although the book is revised, it's still the first edition. It seems there was a previous book by Leland encompassing a variety of what he at first termed "the minor arts". Apparently he thought better of this and wrote an entire book on wood carving as well...

And that's about it. The cover and the content are uploaded. The proof is ordered. The fingers are crossed. It's time for some GF mac & cheese and the next episode of River Monsters. Till next, Gary

Just in case you didn't know, Charles Godfrey Leland was not your average Joe. Not by a long shot. This is a very heavily edited version of his life. The long version is a book unto itself... Introduction to the Toolemera edition of A Manual Of Wood Carving. Charles Godfrey Leland was, by his own admission, a distinguished linguist, folklorist, historian, educator and author. He included in his accomplishments a knowledge of witchcraft and sorcery along with a close familiarity with various ethnic cultures who, according to Leland, viewed him as a member rather than as an outsider. Born 1824...

For reasons wholely unkown to yours truly, few people speak, or write, of the Mechanick Dyalling chapter of The Doctrine Of Handy-Works. If you put your mind to it, Joseph Moxon was known for his skill in making scientific and philosphical appartti of this very sort. For that matter, us moderns seem to focus on the hand tools sections of Handy-Works, seemingly overlooking the overall import of the book as being an introduction to the building of a house. Sure, there are some very swift and nifty phrasings of various obscure and scure tools but if you take the time...

Yes, I went and had a face lift. A partial face lift. One little part of one eyelift lift. No, not really a Hollywood eye-lift lift, more a medical necessity type of lift lift. Thanks to numerous other ocular procedures my poor beleaguered left eye has been subject to over the years, the lids had taken on a life of their own. The time had come for some surgical intervention to return them to a semblance of their original selves. Such surgical intervention now makes me wonder why in _ell anyone would put themselves through any sort of face lift...

Mr. Leland addresses this question in his treatise on Wood Carving and rightly so. It's one of those questions that has clearly perplexed teachers, sensei and masters of crafts for centuries: "It is a question among experts as to whether the tools for beginners should have long or short handles, which is as sensible as if they should debate whether the pupils should have large or small hands." Such is the depth to which Leland considers the gravity of the selection of tool handles. This statement comes at a time when a certain school of Manual Arts theorists have moved...

Time to shed those winter excess pounds, kilos or what have you's. In my case, it's the excess clutter of this blog. A wee bit has also been shed over at the website too. It's one of those things that happen when the tulips show up. Teal as the side color has returned even if it does sort of look grayish to me. The color chart says teal so I believe it. Two columns looks neater than three and more refined, he says with his pinky in the air. Still to come is putting the categories on a slim down...

As a former librarian, I must insist on accuracy in nomenclature, cataloging (which classes I really didn't get along with in grad school if I must be truthfull) and all that other library stuff. The upcoming reprint of Charles G. Leland's book on the carving of wood is not Wood Carving by Leland, revised by Holtzapffel, 4th edition, 1909. It's A Manual Of Wood Carving by Charles G. Leland, revised by John J. Holtzapffel, 1891 which would make it the first edition of the revised edition not the 4th of the revised although it's not the first edition of the...

Forget about that Moxon Vise. It's old hat. Really old hat as in 17th century old hat. The Doctrine Of Handy-Works was not about the hand tools, it was about how to build a house. Yet, we seem to focus squarely (sorry for the pun) on the tool descriptions and ignore the greater part of the content of this fine book. Herewith a brief selection of the raw scans of a three plates from Moxon on houses. No tools. No squares. No vises. The original scans are 40+ mb each. Obviously, these have been downsized for modern living needs. Till...

Just because his book on wood carving is so engaging, here are a few more images for your enjoyment. Obviously, that's the cover. Next up is a form designed by Leland. You can see what design ethos he leans towards. Lastly, a Pilgrim bottle. I am not sure what a Pilgrim bottle is, but it is certainly a Pilgrim bottle if ever I say one, which I have not so I cannot attest to it's bottleness, leaving that determination to you. Till next, Gary PS: waiting for a book from South Africa; Eleanor Rowe on Chip Carving. The only copy...

Who wrote those words as an introduction? Whose sample carving is displayed here? Who was a famous Manual Arts designer and writer of the Arts & Crafts period? Who also wrote books on leather craft and organic forms? Whose book am I currently working on? Why am I asking so many questions when I already know the answers? Till next, Gary

The only edition of Stokes to feature the eleven hand colored plates of period furniture, this, the first edition published by Dean & Munday of London in 1829 is now back in print. Some people might say there are copies back in print via some of those reprint scammers but I say nay, those are not reprints, those are pitiful representations of reality. Not that I am biased or anything. Back to Stokes. This reprint is hard cover, case laminate, 192 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 x .5 inches. Each page is displayed in full color. That's each page, not just...

Courtesy of the wonderful blog of Robin Wood comes The Last British Book Maker, a pun if ever I read one. Till next, Gary

Nuff said!

This will be a brief review because I only just received the book in the mail. And I like it. A lot. The hard cover version was a bit pricey but lo and behold a trade paper version was issued and I jumped at the chance to buy a copy. Grinling Gibbons & The Art Of Carving Note that this is not one of those Amazon Associates links largely because I am going through one of my I Hate Amazon phases. My Amazon widget is acting up yet again which means I'll have to recreate it from scratch or just...

Back when, Dover and others compared Stokes to George Smith's Complete Cabinet Maker And Upholsterer's Guide. Some other people compared Stokes, not to favorably, to Hepplewhite and various books of the time period, remarking on the prevailing trend of 'piracy' of words and ideas. I have my own ideas on the subject, which ideas are present in the introduction to the reprint. To wit: Introduction to the Toolemera edition of The Complete Cabinet Maker And Upholsterer’s Guide. The facsimile reprint of the first edition, from 1829, of The Complete Cabinet Maker And Upholsterer’s Guide by J. Stokes (Stokes) has been...

Here 'tis, the cover for Mr. J. Stokes treatise: After a few moments of contemplation, a bit of last minute checking and then the whole mess gets uploaded to Lightning Source for proofing. This being a color book, it takes longer than average for the color proof to print and ship, which only serves to increase my desire to have the final product in hand. One prospective customer has asked about the French Polishing appendix. There was none in the 1829 edition. This appendix was not added until 1880 or thereabouts. As this is a facsimile of the first edition,...

The book block (an aberrative term borrowed from the world of printers meaning the gathered signatures of a book, ready to be encased in a cover, herein referring to the completed press ready PDF of a given book to be published via digital press. See?) of The Complete Cabinet Maker And Upholsterer's Guide by J. Stokes, 1829 is complete, to borrow a word from the self-same title. To my left is a page sample as you will see it in the finished book. The book is 5.5 x 8.5 inches, set with .75 inch margins to enclose the image of...