You can now order “Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley” by Don Williams from the Lost Art Press store. The book is $49 and will ship in mid-May.
Orders received before May 13, 2015, will receive free domestic shipping. The first 1,000 orders will receive a nice commemorative postcard featuring a beautiful shot of the open tool cabinet shot by Narayan Nayar.
When you order, you will have the option to pick up your copy at Handworks in Amana, Iowa., on May 15-16, or have the book shipped to you. All shipping will occur after Handworks.
Retailers for ‘Virtuoso’
While we are certain that many of our retailers will stock “Virtuoso,” we do not know which ones yet will opt to carry it. When we have that information in the next couple weeks, I will definitely post it here.
Why No Digital Version?
There will not be a digital version of “Virtuoso” at this time. We have experienced a significant amount of pirate distribution of our titles, so we have decided that for this book, the pirates will have to manually scan and assemble the book if they want to rip us off. Our apologies to our law-abiding customers for this difficult decision.
Other Studley Products
We will have more news on other Studley-related products in the coming weeks, including posters, a feature-length DVD and toilet-seat covers (oh wait, no, those are for “The History of Wood”).
Thanks for all your patience during the last four years since we announced this project at Woodworking in America. A team of people has poured thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars into the research and production of this book. I think that effort will show in the book, and I hope you will be pleased.
— Christopher Schwarz
So excited about this title, will definitely be ordering it. Although really for the sake of my heir’s college fund it would probably be best if you stopped publishing so many amazing books. Perhaps switch focus to birdhouse a for a couple of years?
Sorry that you’ve been suffering from piracy, that really is unacceptable.
Ordered. NOW I’ll start telling people about it. 😉
Tried to order 2 copies. Credit card in hand. There is no checkout button. What am I missing? Tried in Chrome and IE. Frustrated.
Greg,
John is investigating the problem and will e-mail you shortly.
Apologies.
It’s working now, thanks!
Reblogged this on thekiltedwoodworker and commented:
You’ve stared at the poster in the bathroom at Woodcraft and spent hours wondering how one man could create such an amazing piece of functional art. Now experience the Studley Toolchest like never before. Get the book. See the Toolchest in person. Try to get your nose so close to it that Don Williams gives you a patient-yet-stern look that obviously means “back off”. Then smile sweetly and hand him the book to autograph. Then you can look at the Studley Toolchest in your own bathroom!
As one of those that has purchased many Lost Art Press books in the digital format this was the one I decided to buy in the old school paper version. I’m sure it is the first of many, I love the convenience of always having my library with me on my iPad but this one deserves to get me started on a Lost Art shelf devoted to your great titles. Can’t wait to crack this one open and stick my nose up n there real close like.
Chris
I just purchased this and had it delivered to my house just in case I can’t make it to Amana. The question is if I show up with the book is it possible to get it signed. I’m fine with whatever you say.
By the way I had the poster framed and it hangs in my office at work much to the envy of my fellow engineers.
Thanks
Joe
Joe,
I don’t think we’ll be shipping the book until after we get back from Handworks. So you’re not going to get it before the show I’m afraid.
I now remembered you said that yesterday.
Oh well – still really looking forward to it.
Thanks
Man I gotta order this book I am so envious of what this guy could do while on the clock
. Sgt.Bilko must have taken lessons from this guy. George M.Cohan could have written,one piece at a time before Johnny Cash, had he known.
Just ordered mine. Saw the back cover of FWW back in the day, had the poster but it was stolen.
Have eagerly tracked your progress on this one for the last four years. THANK YOU for all the hard work on this!!
Hi Chris, remember this:
https://blog.lostartpress.com/2013/10/22/contest-guess-the-weight-of-the-empty-studley-chest/ ?
To quote Judge Smails, “Well, we’re waiting.”
No digital version for The Book of Plates. Now, no Virtuoso…
I’ve got bad eyes and I’m bad, pretty bad at mathematics but as I see it by not selling digital copies, piracy notwithstanding LAP’s not gaining anything while certainly losing sales. And patrons.
Paulo, I for one was really happy to see that there is no digital edition. What sets LAP apart is the quality of its books (including their physical printing and binding). Might I suggest you order a $10 magnifying glass if print size is your main objection?
Chris and Don – CONGRATULAITONS!!! I have ordered my first copy, and eagerly await its arrival next month. (Also, chairmaker should arrive next week! So many great titles this year.)
Pirating woodworking books (and others) is b*******! Unfortunately, there is no good way to stop one person from legitimately buying a pdf, and then sending it everywhere (and DRM hurts more than it helps). A very difficult problem as one can basically take a screenshot of each pdf page.
I remember a post on a woodworking forum a few years ago asking if anybody knew a website where he could download Shop Notes magazine back issues for free. It was amazing how the guy seemed to have no concept of what theft was.
I’m disappointed to hear you won’t have a digital version, but I understand. I know how much work goes into a book like this, and even though I normally buy digital versions, I’ll spend the extra money for the hard cover if it means that the creator gets compensated for his work rather than having it stolen from him by idiots who think theft on the internet is different from theft in a brick and mortar book store.
Just ordered. Like every book I have from LAP I am sure it will be a treasure. Call me a luddite but I’m glad this one is print only. It seems incongruent to study the finer points of hand tools in an iPad…
Ordered from Henry Eckert Australia. I am counting the days until I have the book in my hands.
Sorry to hear about piracy. Digital books are very popular this days, but nothing near or even close to hold a real book in your hands. Thanks Chris and Don.