I am pleased to announce that “Make a Chair from a Tree – Third Edition” by Jennie Alexander is now available for purchase and is shipping immediately from our Indianapolis warehouse. The book is $37 plus shipping.
If you purchase the book before July 21, 2021, you will receive a free pdf of the book at checkout. After July 21, buying the book plus the pdf will cost $46.25.
The third edition of “Make a Chair from a Tree” is completely new. The text was rewritten by Jennie Alexander with the help of Larry Barrett before her death in 2018. Peter Follansbee then helped polish the text, photos and images. Many other people around the country contributed to the effort to bring this book back into print. Why go to so much trouble?
In 1978, the first edition of “Make a Chair from a Tree” kicked off an enormous surge of interest in green woodworking and chairmaking. Since that time, Jennie continued to refine the design of the chair shown in the book plus the processes to make it (steambending wasn’t covered in the first edition).
We hope that this all-new edition will inspire other woodworkers to pick up the craft and build this beautiful, lightweight and incredibly comfortable chair.
The new edition is the same quirky 9” x 9” trim size. But the manufacturing similarities end there. The new edition is full-color with sewn signatures and is hardbound.
We hope that many of our retailers will carry this title, but that is their decision, not ours. So a note to your favorite retailer might encourage them to carry the title.
— Christopher Schwarz
2021 — Year of the Chair.
The ’20’s will be the decade of the chair. Making fancy boxes is boring.
Hi Chris and the team. I’m delighted that Jennie’s book is now available in the 3rd edition. I just tried ordering it online but fell down when it came to the choice of USA or Canada – I’m in the UK. Please can you help me order a copy…… or should I wait for a retailer in the UK to stock it?
Hi Mike,
We don’t ship internationally, I’m afraid. I suspect that Classic Hand Tools in the UK will be stocking it.
All best,
Chris
Excellent! Thanks for the heads up. I’ve been waiting for this and just ordered it!
Great job!
I’ve heard so much about Jennie, through articles and videos, but I never read the book. Looking forward to reading this edition. Thank you.
Hooray! This is the longest I’ve been waiting for a book. This is the one! As a matter of fact during COVID I couldn’t wait so I ordered the video instead and made 6! Now I’ll read what I could have done differently. Incredible chairs, mine are performing well as our kitchen chairs.
I would love to purchase that book, i’m in France so i have to order via Dictum. When i wanted to buy ” the welsh stick chair” by John Brown that was not on their catalogue i asked i they could order it. I’ve been coldly answered “NO” (and i’m a good customer)
I waiting like a child for christmas for your stick chair book and i hope that a european retailer will add it to it’s catalogue.
There is a company which tries to evolve to an online shop which would be interested (i hope ) by your book (it’s Auriou, the rasp maker and the company name is “Forge de Saint Juery”). I’ll write to them. Unfortunately i cannot push French people to learn English it would have helped to increase the sells of your book along with rediscovering woodworking we have lost in France. I’ve been a bookworm (and old book seller) for almost 20 years now and i have to honestly say that your books are almong the best i have the pleasure to own. I hope that the retailers will understand that. Have a nice day. Jonathan.
If Dictum does not carry it, you should inquire with our retailers in Sweden and the U.K. Those suppliers carry almost all of our books.
All best,
Chris
I’ve been refreshing this section of the blog weekly for months, and daily since the post on the 18th looking forward to this. Think I’ll pick up a copy of Joiners Work to compliment this one. But for anyone else looking, is there a particular book (or series) from your catalogue you think would compliment this work particularly well? Maybe something that covers alternate applications of the skills covered here, or alternate skills that could be applied to this kind of work (something along the lines of a book on carving, which could be used to decorate the final product of this book)?
Great news! Does anyone know if Doug fir or monterey cypress would work for these chairs?
I’ve been so eagerly awaiting this announcement, but went to order two copies and realized you don’t ship to Canada. Boo hoo! (Shipping to Canada is not so very difficult, friends!) So I immediately wrote to Lee Valley and asked them to stock it. They told me you weren’t finished printing it and wouldn’t be for some time. I set them straight with a forward of this blog, and they say they will get right on it. You should maybe consider a press release style announcement to send to all your stockists, rather than wait for them to figure it out on their own. I know we all have plenty to do, but it occurs to me that this was such a huge production and involved so many folks’ hard work that you’ll want to start making money on it as soon as you can. I simply can’t wait to hold it in my hands, and to share it with a friend. Thanks in advance!
We do notify all our retailers when a book is printed. Promise. It would be hard to run a retail program and not.
We used to ship to Canada and we lost money on the process. Customers who were charged duty/customs/additional tax would refuse the shipment and tell us it was lost. Over and over.
Oof. Sorry to hear that. I’ll sit patiently on my Democratic chair until I can get my copy and make me a Jennie! Thanks for the beautiful thing you do.
Ooof. Sorry to hear that. OK, I’ll sit patiently on my Democratic Chair until I get my copy and make me a Jennie! Thanks for the beautiful thing you do.