Author: fitz

As I decided which bay of the Covington Mechanical Library to post for today, I realized I’d have to first do some rearranging. Can you believe that the many Stickley books were simply mixed in to the rest of the Arts & Crafts tomes, instead of being grouped together? Likewise the books on English Arts & Crafts…and the rest. Quelle horreur! I’m a slob, but I’m an organized slob. So yes, today, we’re looking at the Arts & Crafts books. (There are a few others scattered throughout the bookcase; well get to them eventually.)

At the far left are a couple of books on the work of architect and designers Charles and Henry Greene – most of which was actually built by Peter and John Hall. “Greene & Greene Furniture” by David Mathias (Popular Woodworking, 2010) and “Greene & Greene Masterworks” By Bruce Smith (Chronicle, 1998).

Next is Barbara Mayers’ “In the Arts & Crafts” style, an overview of the American A&C movement, with gorgeous pictures by Rob Gray (Quarto, 1993).

Then it’s the general American A&C how-to furniture section, with two copies each of “In the Craftsman Style” (Taunton, 2001) and “Arts & Crafts Furniture Projects” (Popular Woodworking 2008) – compilations excerpted from those magazines. We also have “More Shop Drawings for Craftsman Furniture” and “Shop Drawings for Craftsman Furniture” by Robert Lang (Cambium, 2001 and 2002), “Building Arts & Crafts Furniture: 25 Authentic Projects that Celebrate Simple Elegance & Timeless Design” by Paul Kemner and Peggy Zdila (Sterling 1997)…and I included that subhed because it made me chuckle (which is good – it means I’ve moved past the shuddering-in-horror stage whenever I hear a title that sounds as if it came from a committee meeting).

Next there are a few general titles on buildings: “Shop Drawings for Craftsman Interiors” (Land, Cambium, 2003) and “The Chicago Bungalow by the Chicago Architecture Foundation (Arcadia 2001).

The largest number of A&C books in the collection are, no surprise, Stickley related. We have “Early L. & J.G. Stickley Furniture” edited by Donald A. Davidoff and Robert Zarrow (Dover, 1992); “Stickley Style: Arts and Crafts Homes in the Craftsman Tradition” by David Cathers and Alexander Vertikoff (Simon & Schuster, 1999); “The Furniture of Gustav Stickley” by Joseph J. Bavaro & Thomas L. Mossman (Linden, 1996); “Stickley Craftsman Furniture Catalogs: Unabridged Reprints of Two Mission Furniture Catalogs, ‘Craftsman Furniture Made by Gustav Stickley’ and ‘The Work of L. & J.G. Stickley'” (Dover, 1979); “The Story of a Developing Furniture Style” (Stickley, 1950); “Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Farms” by Mark Alan Hewitt (Syracuse UP, 2001); “The 1912 and 1915 Gustav Stickley Craftsman Furniture Catalogs” (Dover, 1991); “Craftsman Bungalows: 59 Homes from ‘The Craftsman'” edited by Gustav Stickley (Dover 1988); and “Gustav Stickley Craftsman Homes (Dover, 1979 reprint).

In between the Stickley and Limbert sections, I stuck the reprint on “Catalog of Mission Furniture 1913” from Sectional “Come-Packt” Furniture (Yes – the IKEA of the Arts & Crafts movement; Chris used to have a piece of it. It is not good.).

Then, as mentioned, we have a few Charles Limbert-related books: “Limbert Arts and Crafts Furniture: The Complete 1903 Catalog” (Dover, 1992); “Limbert Arts & Crafts Furniture” (a collection of catalogs compiled and re-published by Turn of the Century Editions, ours is their third printing, 1997); and “Building Classic Arts & Crafts Furniture: Shop Drawings for 33 Traditional Charles Limbert Projects” (Popular Woodworking, 2013). (OK – that last title makes me shudder…I was in that meeting and remember arguing that “Limbert” should be in the main title. I lost.)

Then we’re on to the Frank Lloyd Wright grouping, which includes: “Frank Lloyd Wright” by Thomas A. Heinz (Gibbs-Smith, 1993); “The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and His Midwest Contemporaries” by H. Allen Brooks (Norton, 1972); “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House” by Donald Hoffman (Dover, 1984); and “Lost Wright: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Vanished Masterpieces” by Carla Lind (Simon & Schuster, 1991).

Then it’s on to “Byrdcliffe: An American Arts and Crafts Colony” edited by Nancy Green (Cornell UP, 2004); “Arts & Crafts Furniture” by Kevin Rodel and Jonathan Binzen (Taunton, 2003) (which should be shelved to the far left with the other general American A&C books…and now is); and “Illustrated Mission Furniture Catalog, 1912-13 edited by Victor Linoff (Dover, 1991)… which fooled me with the cover illustration. It’s another Come-Packt Furniture Company catalog, and has been moved to join its brethren.

And now my favorite A&C section, on Cincinnati’s The Shop of the Crafters. In it we have two copies of the 1983 reprint of the company’s 1906 catalog (Turn of the Century Editions) and “Oscar Onken and The Shop of the Crafters at Cincinnati” by M.J. McCracken and W. Michael McCracken (Turn of the Century Editions, 2007). On my project bucket list is to reproduce the Shop of the Crafters bookcase shown below.

Now we cross the Atlantic to the birthplace of the Arts & Crafts Movement: the United Kingdom. Here we have “Mackintosh Furniture” by Roget Bilciffe (Dutton, 1985); “English Arts & Crafts Furniture” by Nancy R. Hiller (Popular Woodworking, 2018) (that was the most fun I’ve ever had at a book cover shoot); “The Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain” by Mary Greensted (Shire, 2015); “Good Citizen’s Furniture: The Arts and Crafts Collections at Cheltenham” by Annette Carruthers and Mary Greensted (Cheltenham, 1994); “William Morris Decor and Design” by Elizabeth Wilhide (Abrams, 1991); “Ernest Gimson: Arts & Crafts Designer and Architect” by Annette Carruthers, Mary Greensted and Barley Roscoe (Yale UP 2019); “Gimson and the Barnsleys” by Mary Comino (Evans Bros., 1980); and “Edward Barnsley and his workshop” by Annette Carruthers (White Cockade, 1992).

Then we have a couple of non-furniture books: “Arts & Crafts Style” by Isabelle Anscombe (Phaidon, 1991); “American Art Pottery” by David Rago (Knickerbocker, 1997); Arts & Crafts Gardens” by Wendy Hitchmough (Rizzoli, 1998).

And finally, two books about the architect Fay Jones, who was a student of Wright’s – and his work is well-represented in Fort Smith, Ark., where Chris grew up. In fact, Chris fell in love with Jones’ work and camethisclose to studying architecture at the University of Arkansas, where Jones was the first dean of the department, and where he taught for 35 years (the architecture school now bears his name). The books: “‘Outside the Pale:’ The Architecture of Fay Jones” (U of Arkansas, 1999) and “fay Jones” by Robert Adams Ivy, Jr. (McGraw-Hill, 1992).

– Fitz

Click here for Week 1.

p.s. A general caveat for the Covington Mechanical Library: Just because a book is on our shelves does not mean that we recommend it. Some are gifts. Others are excellent examples of what not to do – in publishing, woodworking or both. And no, I’m not telling you which ones. (And just because a book is not on our shelves doesn’t mean it isn’t a good one. Or that it is.)

Many of the visitors to our shop spend more time checking out the books in the back than the books in the front. In front are all the books Lost Art Press publishes (along with our Crucible Tool offerings). In back is what we call the Covington Mechanical Library – the very large and overfull floor to ceiling bookcase that holds most of the furniture reference books we use, along with a few backup tools, a very few collectibles and Mr. Chirpy (a mechanical bird that chirps when you walk by the embedded motion sensor). Most of the books are grouped together in a loose conglomeration of like subjects. There are, for example, sections on chairmaking and chairs, Shaker furniture, campaign furniture, etc. (And there are many books that could go in more than one section – and sometimes they change section – or whole sections move – without me knowing it’s happened. I blame the cats.)

And because not everyone can visit us (which is probably for the best, as we’d never get anything done if they could!), I’m going to go through the various bays in our bookcase and share with you what’s there (and I might divide some of the larger bays into smaller sections). There is no set schedule – but it will always be on Sundays.

To ease us in, I’ll start with The History of C. Schwarz in Woodworking Publishing section. In it are bound volumes of Popular Woodworking Magazine from 1997 when Chris started at the magazine through the year F+W Media stopped offering bound volumes, 2007. But Chris, who is the most hyper-organized person I know, also clipped every article he wrote and kept them in binders – those are alongside the bound volumes. (“Those are clips for when I got fired,” he says. Ever the optimist.)

There is also a copy of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” from the first press run (it’s the book that let him quit as editor of PWM before he got fired), and a leather-bound volume from that same printing. Alongside that are three copies of his “Anarchist’s Design Book,” one from the first press run, one from the first press run of the revised edition (with the red ribbon)…and one that’s been lopped off at the front edge and bottom, for those who complain that the three Anarchist’s titles are different sizes. Tucked amongst them is a black-cloth-clad ATC (it’s the 11th printing…which may or may not be the first black cover. We’re old and can’t remember). Then two copies of “The Anarchist’s Workbench” – one with black debossed type and cover art, one with white (the first and second printings.) There is also a copy of Nancy R. Hiller’s “Making Things Work” from our first press run of her book – because it belongs in this super-special-to-us section.

– Fitz