Lost Art Press

Author: Lost Art Press

Publisher of woodworking books and videos specializing in hand tool techniques.

New in Store: Letterpress ‘Roman Workbenches’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

rw_mockupYou can now place a pre-publication order for the letterpress version of “Roman Workbenches” in our store via this link. The book will ship in late March or early April 2017.

There are only 500 copies available. The cost for U.S. customers is $87. This product is available for international shipping with an upcharge (the book and shipping is $115. Note that this international price applies to Canadian customers too because this book will ship from the U.S.). Everyone who places an order will receive an instant download of a pdf of the book. You also can purchase the pdf alone for $15.

The first workbenches we know of were built by the Greco-Romans, and these benches were decidedly different than modern benches. Many are low – about knee-high – have no stretchers between the legs and use a series of pegs or nails for workholding.

“Roman Workbenches” explores this early form using paintings, engravings, writings and a surviving example from a Roman fort in Saalburg. I built a low Roman bench for the book and spent much of 2016 decoding its workholding with some surprising findings.

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In addition, I built a taller bench from the Holy Roman Empire that wedded a typical Roman workbench undercarriage with the first-known combination of a tail vise and face vise. The tail vise and face vise are unlike modern vises and offer some surprising advantages.

The book tells the sometimes twisting and personal tale about researching these benches, sorting out inaccurate information and learning to use the benches without instructions from long-dead Roman woodworkers or German writers.

The book is decidedly PG-13 as it deals with some sexual matter – thanks to the Romans – swordplay, male genitals, urination and carnal affections for a bull.

The 6” x 9” book is 64 pages, hardbound and covered in cotton cloth. Like all Lost Art Press books, it is produced entirely in the United States. “Roman Workbenches” is being printed letterpress by Steam Whistle Letterpress in Newport, Ky., and being bound by Acme Binding in Massachusetts.

— Christopher Schwarz

Letterpress Book a Marriage of High and Low Tech

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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When I was in college, my favorite place to study was the Deering Library. At the time it was a tricky place to access, filled with odd spaces – beware the moat! – and made me feel like I was at some Gothic institution.

Whenever my head became too full of academics, I’d retreat to the large open chamber in the center of the library. It had an 18th century press there. Full cases of type. No ropes protecting it.

At the time I was working as a production assistant at night dealing with cold type, so I was fascinated by the old press. I spent hours puzzling out how it worked, and no one ever stopped me. After four years, I knew the press pretty well and I took a souvenir when I graduated: My name’s initials in 36 point Caslon.

Letterpress has always fascinated me.

Tomorrow at noon Eastern time the letterpress version of “Roman Workbenches” goes on sale. It is a bit of a throwback to print a letterpress book in this era of offset and digital printing. But the letterpress process produces a physical artifact that no laser writer or offset press can provide.

That’s not to say it’s low technology. Modern letterpress printing is an odd marriage of digital and physical. Here’s a brief overview.

Like all Lost Art Press books, “Roman Workbenches” was laid out in InDesign, an Adobe program that is the industry standard. InDesign works a lot like the manual paste-up days of my years as a production assistant. Minus the smell of hot wax, InDesign has always felt like the digital embodiment of my layout training.

After laying out the book in InDesign, the next step is to make plates for the press. Normally we would send the file to a service bureau to make an aluminum plate for the offset press. But because this is a letterpress book, the process takes a different turn.

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In this case the file will go to Boxcar, a service bureau that makes polymer plates for letterpress. What the heck does that sentence mean?

OK, think of it this way. Traditional letterpress consists of taking a bunch of pieces of metal or wood type and clamping them together to make a page of a book. You ink the high spots and press the paper onto the type.

Polymer plates mimic this process. Boxcar will make 64 separate plates for this book. The type and images will be raised above the background and receive ink. And then the inked areas will be pressed into the paper, producing the final image with incredible clarity and texture.

This is all grossly simplified. So if you are a press nerd we ask that you simply acknowledge that we’re explaining this to people who don’t have ink in their veins.

We used this same process to print the tool chest posters for “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” and were really pleased with the results. It’s not quite like the fantasy I had of printing a book using the press in the Deering Library. But it is as close as I think I’ll ever come.

See you tomorrow at noon.

— Christopher Schwarz

Copperplate Prints Now Available for Ordering

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It took only 10 months (all my fault), but we are now taking orders for handmade copperplate prints from “The Anarchist’s Design Book.”

The prints will be made individually by Briony Morrow-Cribbs, the artist who created the etchings and original set of prints used in the book. Prints measure 11” x 15-3/4” and are printed on a cotton rag paper called Hahnemuhle Copperplate – the same paper used for the prints reproduced in the book.

Individual prints are $110. If you order the entire set for $1,300 they’ll come in a handmade clamshell box constructed by Mike Fallon at Ohio Book. Ordering information is here.

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We’ll be taking orders for the plates until early April. After we close the ordering, Briony will make the prints, Mike will make the boxes and we will ship your prints in protective packaging (recommended by the artist) when they are done.

Copperplate prints are rare today, but they were the primary way that woodworking and other technical information was transmitted in the 18th century. A.-J. Roubo made his own copperplate engravings for “l’Art du menuisier,” which is one of the reasons his book is such a classic.

Inspired by Roubo’s copperplate engravings, I convinced Briony to make the plates for “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” She makes etchings, not engravings, but it’s a similar intaglio process. Each plate began as a CAD sketch which I then redrew to make it more human. Then Briony made her own drawings based on mine and we went back and forth to balance the technical with the artistic aspects of each plate.

In the end, every line and stipple was etched into copper, the plates were hand inked and then embossed into the paper.

The result is unlike anything you’ll find printed today.

If you’d like to see the plates and box in person, I’ll have them at our storefront for the next two open days: Feb. 11 and March 11.

Last note: This is the only time we’ll be offering these plates for sale. We don’t seek to become an art dealer, but these prints are special and offer you a personal link to the great woodworking book traditions of the 18th century.

— Christopher Schwarz

The Cover Cloth on ‘Roubo on Furniture’

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r2_blue_twine“Roubo on Furniture” will forever be known as one of our children that had a difficult birth. The cover cloth we ordered for the book has been discontinued. As was our backup color.

And so we have switched gears and the cover cloth will be the greenish blue shown at right.

If you ordered the book for the color of the cover only, please send a message to help@lostartpress.com and we’ll dispatch a psychiatrist to your home immediately.

— Christopher Schwarz

Important Update: ‘Roman Workbenches’

Posted on by Lost Art Press
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A mock-up of the two-part cover for the book with navy blue cloth on the spine over a wheat-colored tweed on the boards.

John and I have decided to make significant changes to the manufacturing specifications of the letterpress version of “Roman Workbenches.” So much so that I’ve taken the unprecedented step of deleting my post from Jan. 29 to avoid confusion.

After much research, we’ve decided to offer “Roman Workbenches” fully bound with a two-part cloth cover, sewn binding, heavy endsheets and headbands. The binding will easily meet (and likely exceed) what we offer on typical Lost Art Press Books.

The price (including domestic shipping) will be $87 – still less than the $100 we promised. The book will go on sale at noon Eastern time on Sunday, Feb. 5. There will be 500 copies available.

Why make the change to the binding? Well, once I started pricing sewing and taping the binding, it was only a little bit more money to simply complete the binding. So John and I decided to go all the way (with the book binding).

If you are like me and really really want to bind your own book, we will have some unbound book blocks and will put those up for sale once the 500 are bound. I suspect the price for the unbound book blocks will be $77 (I know, it’s not a big savings; hence, our decision).

I am sorry (and a bit embarrassed) at this change. We try not to alter manufacturing specs like this in midstream. But I know it’s the correct thing to do.

See you Sunday (I hope, or we will flush away many thousands of American dollars).

— Christopher Schwarz