The following retailers have indicated they will stock “l’Art du menuisier: The Book of Plates” when it is released in November. The only seller that has added the product to its web site is Classic Hand Tools in the United Kingdom, where you can place a pre-publication order for the book.
No matter how much we write about a new book, there are always additional questions we didn’t think of at first. Here are some of the common questions I am fielding about “l’Art du menuisier: The Book of Plates.”
Question: If I buy all the deluxe editions of the André-Jacob Roubo translations, will I then have all the plates in full size? In other words, do I need to buy “The Book of Plates?”
Answer: While we hope to eventually translate every word of Roubo, that will take many more years to accomplish, and I can offer no guarantees that it will be possible. “The Book of Plates” is a way to have all 383 plates in one quality binding.
Question: How many are you printing? Will you sell out?
Answer: To keep the price reasonable, we are printing several thousand copies of “The Book of Plates.” Unlike the deluxe editions of Roubo, this book is not a limited edition. We plan to keep “The Book of Plates” in print for many years. So if you cannot afford it now, it will be available in the future. No rush.
Question: Will there be a deluxe edition of “The Book of Plates?” Will this book match my deluxe edition?
Answer: There will not be a deluxe edition of “The Book of Plates.” This book is not designed to “match” either the standard or deluxe editions of Roubo now in print. It is larger than the standard edition and smaller than the deluxe. But all the books were designed by the same person, Wesley Tanner. So they all look like part of a family.
Question: So I’m confused about what plates are in what book. Will I have all the plates if I buy “Roubo on Marquetry” and “Roubo on Furniture?”
Answer: Here’s the shortest answer I can offer without a Venn diagram: “Roubo on Marquetry” contains 34 plates. “Roubo on Furniture” (due early 2015) will contain about 84 plates. So the “Book of Plates” will have more than 260 plates that are not in those two books. These 260-plus plates include lots of good stuff on interior woodwork, carriage-making, garden woodwork and some miscellaneous stuff on geometry.
Question: Will you ship “The Book of Plates” internationally?
Answer: This book will be offered to all of our retailers, including the overseas sellers. So we hope it will be available worldwide through them. As retailers officially sign on, we will announce it here on the blog.
Question: Will this book be signed by the author?
Answer: We don’t have an Ouija board that works that well. Sorry.
As of three hours ago, “l’Art du Menuisier: The Book of Plates” is officially off to the printer and is now about five weeks away from landing in our warehouse (during a rainstorm, most likely).
“The Book of Plates” is 472 pages long and contains every single plate from all of the volumes of André-Jacob Roubo’s 18th-century masterpiece. All the plates are printed in full size and on #100 Mohawk Superfine paper – the best paper we could find. The book itself is 10” x 14-1/4” x 2” thick – a sizable chunk.
As with all Lost Art Press books, “The Book of Plates” is produced entirely in the United States. It is hardbound, casebound, with sewn signatures and a cloth cover. The book is designed to outlast us all. The plates were scanned from 18th-century originals (which are sitting before me right now) at the highest resolution possible and are printed at a linescreen that will produce the maximum detail possible for the paper and available technology.
The retail price is $100. When the book goes on sale we will offer it with free domestic shipping for the first 30 days to domestic customers. “The Book of Plates” will also be carried by many of our retailers – details to come on availability.
Why should you consider buying it? It’s an intoxicating look at 18th-century work, everything from furniture to architectural woodwork, carriage-making, marquetry and garden woodwork. Roubo’s volumes are still the legal standard when it comes to the craft of woodworking in most of the world.
Even if you never buy one of our translations of Roubo’s text, “The Book of Plates” will inspire you (for many years I owned two copies of Roubo with only a passing knowledge of French). And if you read Roubo in the original French, German or one of our English translations, having the full-size plates in front of you makes a huge difference.
In addition to containing all 383 plates from “l’Art du menuisier,” we have included the first English translation of the table of contents for the books, which serve as a guide to the plates. This table of contents is 11 pages long and is a roadmap to the contents of every plate. There also are short essays from Don Williams, our partner in translating the text, and me.
When we have a release date, we will post it here. So stay tuned.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. There will not be an electronic version of “The Book of Plates.” This product is print-only and intended for people who love ink on paper.
For those of you who missed my blog entries on Pégas blades (here), the bad news is that Tools for Working Wood is temporarily sold out of these outstanding, durable and less-expensive Swiss-made coping-saw blades.
The good news is that Knew Concepts now has 60 packages of the 18-point skip-tooth blades, which they are selling for only $5 per dozen. Go here. I cannot say enough good things about these blades.
Also, ShopWoodworking.com now has the four-volume set of “The Practical Woodworker” in the store in paperback. The set is $65 and will ship in late October or early November. If you missed out on the hardback set, which was excellent, this is your chance to add these books to your library.
“The Practical Woodworker” is a collection of writings from early 20th-century authors on handwork. Just about every aspect of the craft is covered in the four books. Need to build a crate? A chicken coop? Learn French polish? It’s all in there. It’s one of the first places I consult when I’m looking for a technique or plan.
Oh, and the other stuff? “l’Art du menuisier: The Book of Plates” goes to the printer on Monday. And Roy Underhill’s “Calvin Cobb: Radio Woodworker!” is about a week away from the printer. Megan Fitzpatrick, the editor of that book, will post an update on the cover this weekend (right Megan?).
The deluxe edition of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry” has been named one of the “50 Books of the Year” for 2013 by the Design Observer, in association with AIGA and Designers & Books.
Wesley Tanner at work on his bench during the French Oak Roubo Project.
Designed by Wesley Tanner, “To Make as Perfectly as Possible” is the most beautiful modern book I have ever held, much less worked on. Wesley, a fine woodworker himself, did justice to the immense years-long translating job by Don Williams, Michele Pagan and Philippe Lafargue.
You can see all of the winners of the competition here.
This “50 Books” competition is the oldest continuously operating graphic design competition in the United States, starting in 1922.
Please join me in congratulating Wesley on his prestigious award.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. We have about two dozen copies of the deluxe edition for sale in our store. Once they are gone, they are gone forever.
The following retailers have indicated they will stock “l’Art du menuisier: The Book of Plates” when it is released in November. The only seller that has added the product to its web site is Classic Hand Tools in the United Kingdom, where you can place a pre-publication order for the book.
