Suzanne Ellison prepared this montage of swimming ducks from A.-J. Roubo’s “The Book of Plates” (plates 98, 294, 319 and 349) to remind you that you have only a day or so to order “The Book of Plates” and have any hope of it being delivered before Christmas.
Also worth noting: We are shipping this book (and all of our books) via Priority mail until the end of 2014. After that, we will be switching to another system of mailing books. It will be more reliable, likely a little faster than Media Mail and definitely more expensive.
So take advantage of us while you can. Shipping will be more expensive in 2015 (can you hear us, California?).
Whether or not you purchase “l’Art du Menuisier: The Book of Plates” makes no difference to me personally. I have my copy, and it is making my woodworking life more interesting.
Today I finished up the first edit of the final bit of our forthcoming translation of A.J. Roubo’s writings on furniture and tools. (Don’t get too excited, it still has to travel a long way to arrive at the end of the goose – look for it in early summer.)
Today was devoted to plate 265, which describes “Autre Secretarie mobile Pupitre, et Petite Table a Ecrie.” AKA, an incredible unfolding, mechanical secretarie that I am hopelessly in love with. It is one part simple Creole-style side table, one part Transformer and two parts Jere Osgood’s Shell Desk.
As I edited the translated text, the words alone weren’t clear as to how the desk’s pigeonhole section pivots up. I had some detail drawings, but those weren’t enough to make the mechanism clear. Only when I opened “The Book of Plates” and took in the entire plate in full size did the scales fall from eyes. I immediately “got it” – like a Zen koan.
After that, the editing was a snap. I knew how the desk worked and could build it myself. My copy of “The Book of Plates” just paid for itself.
By the way, reader response to “The Book of Plates” has been incredibly positive (custom wooden box issues aside). It was a financial gamble that just might pay off. You can still get one before Christmas if you order it by Dec. 19 – all books are now shipping Priority mail, which will arrive in three business days.
Though it’s only 3:30 p.m., finishing plate 265 (and the other 87 plates) calls for a beer.
At long last (thank you USPS), I received a box of the production-bound copies of “The Book of Plates.” Like many readers on Twitter and Instagram, I was smitten. It is a bit intoxicating to hold, page through and examine.
We have had several customers who – having received “The Book of Plates” – have asked the following question: “Where the %$#^ is the custom wooden box you promised?”
So if you are wondering the same thing, here’s the answer: “The Book of Plates” ships in a custom cardboard box made in Indianapolis (and at great expense). We said it shipped in a custom box, and I showed it to you here in this video. It’s cardboard, which is termite barf, which was then eaten by a nearby drunken termite and pooped out into a flat, corrugated format (termite sphincters are amazing).
That’s your custom wooden box.
There is no custom wooden box, and we apologize if you read “custom box” as “custom wooden box.” If we did ship “The Book of Plates” in a custom wooden box, then John and I would be wearing custom wooden barrels as we shuffled into the poorhouse.
As always, if you are dissatisfied in any way with our products, send them back to us and we will gladly refund your money.
Calvin Cobb
We’ve heard from several customers that they have not yet received their copy of Calvin Cobb, especially customers on the West coast. Here’s the straight dope: We printed the labels on Nov. 13. All of the books were packed and put into the mail stream on Nov. 14.
They were sent Media Mail, which can be slow this time of year. And it is probably especially slow this year because of reports we are hearing from other shippers. Media Mail can take up to 14 business days to reach you.
So I wouldn’t be concerned until after Dec. 1. We apologize that we cannot speed this up.
The Book of Plates
Our shipping company has boxed all of the pre-publication orders and delivered them to the postal service as of today. These also are being sent Media Mail, so it could take a couple weeks for you to receive your book, especially if you live out West.
Thanks for your patience. We’re happy that you really want your books, and we’re doing everything we can to get them to you.
After much consternation and a little yelling, “The Book of Plates” arrived at our warehouse this morning, along with all the custom boxes to ship the book to customers.
I haven’t seen the final bound book with the muted gold stamp on the cover, but John says it looks great.
As promised, our warehouse is setting up a special assembly line to ship out all the pre-publication orders as quickly as possible. If you ordered “The Book of Plates” during our free shipping offer, your book will be in the mail very soon.
If you plan to order the book through one of our retailers, such as Lee Valley Tools, Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, Classic Hand Tools UK, Highland Woodworking or Henry Eckert, keep an eye on their web sites. Their orders were shipped on Friday.
If you haven’t ordered “The Book of Plates” there is still time for Christmas, though it will be a squeaker. The book is $100 plus $9 shipping and handling. The book is heavy (more than 8 lbs.), oversized and shipped in a custom box.
Oh and the above illustration of Cato the Roubo crow was made by Suzanne Ellison, our researcher, indexer and contributing editor. The elements of the collage come from “The Book of Plates” (except the crow).
