Category: To Make as Perfectly as Possible, Roubo Translation

Now that “To Make As Perfectly As Possible: Roubo on Marquetry” has been birthed, or put to bed, or sent to press, or whatever cliché is appropriate (I only know that my part is done), we now draw your attention to the curtain marked “To Make As Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Furniture Making,” behind which the work has continued unabated even through the seemingly endless tribulations of Roubo on Marquetry.”

See, I am learning from Roubo: one paragraph, one sentence, no problem.

Much of “Roubo on Furniture Making” is fairly straightforward, seeming all the more so after six years of our interpreting and expressing Roubo’s voice.  Some days I find I can get through as many as a dozen pages of Michele’s raw transliteration, mostly to clarify the idiosyncratic jargon and syntax A-J employs.  This process can be a bit humorous as Michele does not even begin to know what particular tools are (or do), while Philippe – though superbly skilled in their uses – identifies them only in his native French.  He never needed to converse in English about the arcane details of 18^th-century French woodworking tools, so he is relying on me to phrase things properly in the language of a 21^st-century Anglophone.

It is excellent that “Roubo on Furniture Making” is going well because in sheer scale it renders “Roubo on Marquetry” a mere warm-up act: This one is almost TWICE as large as our first volume.

For example, this week I am working my way through (again!) Volume 1 Section 1 Chapter 5:  “Some Tools Belonging to Woodworkers, Their Different Types, Forms and Uses,” which contains the much-heralded Plate 11 “Interior View of the Furniture Maker’s Studio” and its ballyhooed image of the French Workbench, the source of much of Schwarzophinia.

Many hands have given at least part of the text for this plate the old college try.  I am unashamed to suggest that our 17-page treatment of this plate’s text is as accurate, nuanced, understandable and downright elegant as any thus far.

That text and the remaining passages of the chapter delve excruciatingly DEEP into the esoterica of the 18^th-century tool box and workshop.  Really, Andy, did you need to give us five pages on the moving fillister plane?

At more than 100 pages of working manuscript, this chapter would make a fine little book all by itself (still, it is barely half the length of Vol. III Section 3 Chapter 13: “Tools and Machines for Furniture Making”), but the thrill of this chapter is a near-perfect analog to my new status of “retirement.”  I am busier and working harder than ever, yet I simply cannot wipe the smile from my face.

— Don Williams

One of the most astonishing things about studying early plates in books such as A.-J. Roubo’s “L’Art du menuisier” is that the plates are not simply two-dimensional. There is a great deal of texture. The paper is radically depressed in the field where the paper went through the copperplate press. And you can feel every line.

Last week at the Deutches Museum in Munich I spent the most time in the museum’s section on printing. I didn’t need to read much about the letterpress; we had one of those in college that I played with all the time instead of studying. But the copperplate press and its exhibit were fascinating. The exhibit showed how the thin copper plates were coated in acid-resistant wax and soot, and then how the engraver etched through these top mediums to create the image. Then the plate was dipped in acid to cut the image into the copper.

You can read more about this process on Wikipedia here.

Here is the (uncorrected) description of how the press works from the Deutches Museum.

A great deal of pressure is necessary for the manufacture of a copperplate engraving, in order to press the paper into the cuts and to suck the ink out. Letterpress printing machines with a platen are not really suited to the purpose. In the sixteenth century, presses with their own back pressure cylinders were used for the first time.

With the star wheel, the copperplate printer moves the running board, plate and wooden cloths through between the two rollers. The upper roller produces the pressure, the lower one transports the running board. Due to the high pressure, the printer needs both his hands and also his feet to move the star wheel.

The copperplate press is a reminder of the sheer amount of labor and willpower needed to create a book like Roubo’s in the 18^th century. Even though our translation seems like a lot of work (I’m proofing the index today), it pales in comparison to what Roubo and the printers of the day had to do to produce the original volumes.

Viva la Macintosh.

— Christopher Schwarz

The price of the deluxe version of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry” will be $380 plus shipping ($20 less than our target price of $400).

Shipping on the book will cost $10 for customers in the United States and $20 for international customers.

If you paid the $100 deposit on the book, you will receive an e-mail in the next two weeks from John Hoffman at Lost Art Press with easy instructions on how to pay the balance to receive your book. Your book will not ship until you have paid the balance.

Here are some answers to common questions on the deluxe version of our translation:

When will the deluxe book ship?

We hope the book will ship in early August. We are working with a different printer on this book, so we are not entirely sure (yet) when our press date will be. As soon as the printer tells us a press date, we will publish it here.

How many deluxe books are you printing?

The plan is to print 600 copies of the deluxe version of the book. Once these are sold, we will not print this edition again. Almost all of the 600 books are spoken for, but we will offer what is left here on our site. The deluxe version will be sold only here on the Lost Art Press site. We are not selling the deluxe edition through our retailers.

What will the deluxe book look like?

It will be nice – a book that we would like to have on our shelves. The book will be 12” x 17”, 248 pages, hardbound and printed in the United States. The interior of the book will be printed on #100 Mohawk superfine white eggshell paper.

The binding will be a Smythe-sewn three-piece binding with a square back plus head and foot bands. The spine will be covered in an Italian fabric that is printed in gold and black foil. The boards will be covered in #80 Mohawk loop antique vellum with a special image printed on the paper.

We had considered using calfskin on the spine but decided we preferred the cloth spine. (Wait until you see the whole package before you start howling.)

The book will come in a handmade slipcase that is wrapped in matching cloth.

Can my club/magazine/blog/library receive a “review” copy?

No. We have been approached by several clubs, magazines, bloggers and libraries about getting a free or discounted copy. There will be no free or discounted copies of this book distributed. Even I, John Hoffman and the authors will be purchasing our copies.

I cannot afford the deluxe version. When will the trade edition come out?

Work on the trade edition is proceeding, and we will have this second version of the book out by fall. It will be in a smaller size, with different printing specifications and no color photos, but it will be as nice as any other Lost Art Press book we’ve printed so far. Our target price is $60, but we are having trouble getting the manufacturing costs under control. The trade edition will be sold by our retailers who choose to carry it. Eventually there will be an e-book version of the trade book, plus other ancillary products. But I don’t have any more details other than what I’ve written above.

— Christopher Schwarz