Lost Art Press

In the Works: The John Brown Book

Posted on by Lost Art Press
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My tattered folder of John Brown columns that I’ve carried with me since 1996.

I am pleased to announce that Lost Art Press will publish a book on the life and work of the late John Brown, the Welsh chairmaker who is a personal hero.

The book will be written by Chris Williams. Chris, a Welshman, apprenticed at age 16 as a carpenter and joiner and met John Brown in the early 1990s. He worked with Brown for many years making chairs until Brown retired from the craft.

As the plan for the book stands now, it will be divided into three parts. The first part will be a biography of Brown based on interviews with family, friends, fellow woodworkers and Chris’s personal experiences with Brown. The second part (we hope) will be some of Brown’s best columns from Good Woodworking magazine. We have yet to secure rights to republish these columns, but that is in the works. The third part of the book will be Chris demonstrating how Brown built his chairs.

While the fantastic book “Welsh Stick Chairs” also does this, Chris will explain how many details of the chairs had evolved since the publication of that important book.

We have secured the blessing of almost all of Brown’s children for this book, which was important to me personally.

The road ahead for this book is a long one because we want to give it our very best. In the meantime, we’ll share many of the details we encounter in our research here on the blog. If you don’t know much about John Brown’s work and you read this blog, we think you’ll enjoy the months ahead.

Next up: I’ll write a blog entry about how John Brown entered my life (which was through the written word; I never met him). Then Chris will tell the story of how he came to work with Brown.

— Christopher Schwarz

20 thoughts on “In the Works: The John Brown Book”

  5. I’d love it if you could weave the bio through the other sections and somehow connect the bio to the other work being described. I’ve read other books like that and it really invests you in both a lot more I think.

  9. I came across his book whilst preparing to build my own chair. I was totally won over by the charm of it and was thrilled when i realised that the photographer for the book (who is mentioned in the introduction) is the father of a friend and i had met him several times. He’s quite a wonderful character himself and still owns the chair from the book, that he received in part payment. I’m hoping that i can meet up with him at some point to chat with him about the experience ( he is a great storyteller).

  10. This is fabulous news! The only downside is that you won’t be reprinting all the Anarchist Woodworker articles. An acquaintance in the UK was kind enough to send me copies, but high quality reprints would be so much nicer.

  13. N.B. the excellent Kenneth Kortemeier who was John Brown’s first (and only) apprentice – he spent six months living with Brown in Wales – is teaching how to make a John Brown chair in August 2017 at the new Maine Coast Craft school.
    August 7-12 – John Brown style Welsh Windsor Chair making http://www.mainecoastcraft.com/workshops.html

  14. Hmmm, never heard of him; book sells for two bits shy of $300 bux on Abebooks. I’m thinking I really missed out on a quality learning experience. Looks like I’ll have a boomerang chance. 🙂

  17. Don’t forget about Drew Langsner. I know he had a few stories the time I was there including one of his chairs in the dining room. Hopefully, I will make the list for his last chair class next year. rod in Nebraska.

  18. Chris, I remember years ago as we were corresponding about John Brown and chairs, you volunteered to send me copies of all of his articles from “Good Woodworking” magazine. Who does that for someone, I wonder? You did and I also treasure them. Thanks…looking forward to this book and the work you are doing in general…let’s drive those legs home!

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