Lost Art Press

Updates on Lost Art Press Products for 2014

Posted on by Lost Art Press

Hayward_200

I know it looks like John Hoffman and I have been lazy publishers this year. Here it is August and we’ve released only two products in 2014 – “Campaign Furniture” and “The Naked Woodworker.”

Are we drunk? Well, yes, but that’s not what is hampering productivity. We have been working on projects that have a long gestation period. Longer than a constipated elephant, apparently. Here is a quick update on stuff that is on the immediate horizon – before the end of the year.

1. “l’Art du Menuisier: The Book of Plates.” We haven’t discussed this project publicly, and I’ll write about it more in the next couple weeks. “The Book of Plates” contains all 383 plates from all of Andre Roubo’s masterwork printed full-size and on super-sexy #100 Mohawk Superfine paper, hardbound and beautiful. This huge book has been a technical challenge because we want it to have a $100 retail price and still be American-made and extremely high-quality. We have succeeded. Details to come. This book is in the capable design hands of Wesley Tanner (“To Make as Perfectly as Possible” deluxe and standard) right now.

2. “Calvin Cobb: Radio Woodworker! A Novel with Measured Drawings” by Roy Underhill. The book is complete and being designed by Linda Watts (“By Hand & Eye” and “The Art of Joinery”) right now. Look for this book in November and somewhere in the $27 price range.

3. “Windsor Fundamentals” (working title) by Peter Galbert. The text is complete. Pete is finishing up some drawings and photos. This book will go to the designer in about five weeks. We are going to try to get this out before the end of the year.

4. “The Woodworker – The Charles Hayward Years.” Work on this book began in 2007 and is finally coming to the end. This will be an enormous compilation of the writings and drawings of Charles Hayward, the single-best woodworking author of the 20th century. Much of this material was collected into his classic books (“Woodwork Joints,” “Cabinet Making for Beginners”). A lot of this work hasn’t been seen since the 1930s. We are scanning a few missing articles and then this book will go into design. We don’t have a release date.

There are lots of other books we are working on actively every day, from the second volume of Roubo, the book on H.O. Studley to “The Furniture of Necessity.” But the above titles are the next four in the pipeline.

— Christopher Schwarz

hayward_43

28 thoughts on “Updates on Lost Art Press Products for 2014”

    1. Josh,

      That copyright is owned by Charles Hummel at Winterthur. He is still alive. So that’s his call (and Winterthur’s). Not ours, I’m afraid.

  4. Between working on your books, traveling around the globe, teaching, writting for the blog,oh and actually doing woodworking, I just have one thing to say…SLACKER!

  5. While reading Roubo (standard) and flipping back and forth from the text to the plate that was being discussed, I thought, “It sure would be nice to have full size copies of the plates so I didn’t have to keep flipping back and forth.” So that was a very nice surprise.

    I have one question, does “Mohawk Superfine”‘ mean super thin, as in delicate?
    Thanks

    1. The reason we are publishing the “Book of Plates” is two-fold. One is the reason you mention. Second is so that these plates are available in full-size for everyone and can be paired with electronic translations of Roubo into any language.

      Mohawk Superfine is the gold standard for papers. We are using it in a 100-pound basis weight for this project (it’s the same paper in the deluxe Roubo). It is heavy and gorgeous. And is the vast majority of the cost of the book for us. Read all about it here:

      http://www.mohawkconnects.com/products/paper/mohawk-superfine

      4. will this be in a matching size/format as the deluxe Roubo? (i’m envisioning the full matched set when all works are translated).

    1. I guess I’ve been under a rock as this is the first I’m hearing about the Hayward compilation. I’m tired of hearing/reading referrals to his work and now I have the chance to do something about it! 🙂 OK, so I’m not really tired of it, but have felt stranded on the dock.

      The picture book reminds me; I should ask Megan if they will have some more of those plate 11 posters at WIA.

      Appreciate the updates; thank you.

      1. OH, this will sooo replace my badly photocopied “woodwork joints” furtively done at the school library in the late eighties…

  9. Guess it’s time to start my Santa list. That Hayward book rely looks great. I sometimes wish I were 20 years you get so I could have time to absorb more of this knowledge.

  10. Hi Chris,
    “Charles Hayward, the single-best woodworking author of the 20th century”. Now that’s a big call. I can’t really comment as I have not heard of him – I will be googling him directly. But with out starting an international incident I would suggest the crown should go to the Australian John A Walton who wrote Woodwork in theory and practice. This is the Australian woodworking bible, used by teachers, students and woodworkers for the 50+ years it has been in print and in my humble opinion the only woodworking book one needs (apart from the Lost Art Press books). Have a look at it when you are next over here.
    Cheers
    Andrew

    1. As a fellow Aussie who has read both authors work, I have to stand by Chris here, Hayward’s writing and illustrations are fantastic (and the sheer volume of material he produced is impressive).

      Saying that I agree that’s Walton’s ‘bible’ (as I’ve found it referred to by many woodworking teachers) is something of an undiscovered gem outside of Australia.

    2. Hmm, Canned fairy farts are more plentiful than Woodwork in theory and practice here in the States. Street prices seem to be 75 to 100 US$ plus international shipping. The preceding is based on about 20 minutes on Google research.

      I’ll try to find a library copy to check out; thanks for the tip.

Comments are closed.