Lost Art Press

Update on Lost Art Press Books: April 2016

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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A few people have asked for an update on the books on which we are working. I’m happy to fill you in, but please read the following paragraph with care before you comment or ask a question:

The updates below are for projects that are in our hands and we are actively working upon. We have about a dozen books that our authors are working on, either in the shop or at the keyboard. If I haven’t listed a project, that means I don’t have any information on it. Usually this means the author is still working on it. Or the author has temporarily abandoned it. Or something else has happened involving feral goats, the grays and banana pudding.

So if you ask: What about Andrew Lunn’s saw book? The answer is above. I don’t know because the book is not in our hands.

The projects are listed in the order in which I think they will be released. Of course, things change.

‘Woodworking in Estonia’ by Ants Viires
This book is kicking my butt. We have re-translated the newest revised version of the work, and it is as complex as translating A.J. Roubo. I’m about halfway through editing the final translated text (the book is already designed), and hope to have it done next month. Then it will go to press and be out in July.

This book is fantastic, though I suspect it will be a commercial flop for us. It is academic, nichy and discusses unfamiliar tools, projects and ways of looking at the world. Still, I think it’s important to publish and promote it amongst people who work wood (as opposed to historians). If you are willing to make the effort to dive into it, the rewards will be significant.

‘Roubo on Furniture’ by A.J. Roubo. Translation by Donald C. Williams, Michele Pietryka-Pagán & Philippe Lafargue
We are shooting for this book to be released in the fall, we hope in time for Christmas. The text is being polished and will be going to Wesley Tanner, the designer, in four weeks. As with “Roubo on Marquetry,” we plan to publish two versions: a standard and a deluxe.

We’re likely going to release the standard edition first. Then we will tackle the deluxe.

I have remained enthusiastic about this book since the moment I started working on it. There is stuff in this book that you won’t find anywhere else. And no matter what sort of woodworking you do (reproduction, contemporary, indifferent), this book is the big one. Every time I dip into the work I am humbled and amazed.

‘The Woodworker: The Charles Hayward Years:’ Joinery and Furniture
Meghan is in the midst of designing the next two volumes. With any luck we’ll have them out in early 2017.

‘Joiner’s Work’ (tentative title) by Peter Follansbee
Peter has finished the first draft of the text, and Megan Fitzpatrick (how many Megans are in my life?), is polishing it before we send it to the designer.

‘Roman Workbenches’ by Christopher Schwarz
Next month I’m driving to North Carolina to pick up the wood for the two workbenches that will be featured in our first letterpress book. Soon we should have a translation in our hands of an early 16th-century codex that will be the basis of one of the benches in the book. Hardware is being made. Research is being done. Stupid theories are being swapped.

So that’s about that. I wish I had information on the other dozen projects to share with you, but I don’t. So now back to editing “Woodworking in Estonia.”

— Christopher Schwarz

22 thoughts on “Update on Lost Art Press Books: April 2016”

  2. Can’t wait to start preordering all these books. Other than The Woodworker, will any of the other books not come with a PDF?

  3. Chris –
    I can well imagine the pain of the Estonia book. I spent the most interesting week of my Army life in Estonia shortly after they had gained their independence (for the umpteenth time) over 20 years ago. Great people, beautiful and fascinating country in so many different ways – and a language that I cannot fathom. Sitting over my desk is a print of one of the tower gates of old Tallinn. I’m a foreign language disaster case – can’t even handle the dialect us ridge runners use around here and I’m a native – and quake at the thought of translating a text in Estonian.

    And I could go on about the bar that was dismantled in Dublin, Ireland and rebuilt stone by stone in Tallinn. Guinness was great but the Irish brogue with an Estonian lilt sure was different singing.

    Keep up the good work – I’m looking forward to that book.

    Dale

  4. Just out of curiosity, what’s the reason behind using letterpress for the Roman Workbench book? Is it an aesthetic choice?

    1. I want to be able to offer books in letterpress because they are so much more tactile than offset printing. This book is an experiment to see if we can make it work at a reasonable price.

  8. Am anxiously awaiting Woodworking In Estonia! I have a bad PDF of the unauthorized translation so am wanting to see the real thing.

  12. When I first saw reference to the Estonia book I thought I’d missed the first part of an in-joke. As time went on and I’ve learned a bit more, though, I’ve grown increasingly intrigued. I find myself waiting for both this one and Roman Workbench book with great anticipation! I’m going to have to spend the time before they come out building another bookcase if you guys keep this up!

  16. Chris,
    Any chance you can post the TOC for the upcoming Roubo book? I’m hoping for some insight on shaping Louis XV legs. Thanks!

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