Our offer for free domestic shipping ends May 13 at midnight. After tomorrow, the book will cost $8 or more to ship, depending on where you live in the United States. If you have been a customer of ours before, then you know that this free shipping is the only discount we will ever offer on a book. Our books do not go on sale.
On Thursday we load up a trailer with 3,013 lbs. of books and head to Handworks in Amana, Iowa. We are bringing as many books as our towing and payload capacity will allow. But because books are heavy, we might run out of some titles during the show. So stop by our booth early to avoid disappointment.
Signed, limited-edition art prints of the image above will be for sale at the Studley Tool Cabinet & Workbench Exhibit in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on May 15-17. Come by and say hi, get a book signed, buy a print and, oh yeah, go see this tool cabinet and workbench everyone keeps talking about.
I refer to this image endearingly as the ensemble’s “yearbook” photo – it’s one of a few photographs I took that contains the entire tool cabinet and workbench, and I think it’s a fitting keepsake for a truly special viewing experience of the full Studley Ensemble. An image like this one appears across the title spread of Virtuoso, but the book features the empty tool cabinet and a cropped workbench base.
The prints measure 24″ by 24″ (the image is 20″ x 17″) and are printed with archival inks on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308, a very thick matte art paper whose silky-smooth, reflective-free surface yields prints with outstanding depth, detail and character. They will come packaged in clear archival bags and will cost $100, payable by credit card or cash.
This art print edition will be limited to 100 prints, each one signed and numbered in pencil by me. I’m hoping to bring all 100 prints to Cedar Rapids (production time might be an issue), but given the pre-release interest in Virtuoso, Handworks,and the H.O. Studley exhibit, I’m fairly certain the prints I bring will sell out, making this poster an event exclusive. The prints will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis, though I will ensure that some are reserved to be sold on Saturday afternoon for those of you who won’t be in the area until the weekend.
I know many of you are interested in prints of images from Virtuoso, and you’ll be happy to know that I intend to offer prints of other images from the Virtuoso photo archive at future woodworking events (such as WIA). But for the time being, prints will not be offered for sale online anywhere – I won’t quit my day job to become a poster-making factory, and I prefer the kind of care and quality control I can exercise in these small-batch production runs. There’s already a made-for-the-masses poster for sale and, for what it’s worth, I have one myself.
Speaking of care and quality control, I’m still tweaking and proofing the image; I’ll post a photo or two on Instagram or on the LAP blog when production is in full swing.
Apologies. That giant “whooshing” sound you heard from the Tristate area was just me. Our printer has just informed us that “Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of H.O. Studley” is on track for delivery a day or so before Handworks.
Disasters could still happen – Tennessee could burn to the ground, there could be a plague of hermit crabs or Cletus could get his willie stuck in the die-stamp machine. But chances are excellent that we will have the book in Iowa.
We’ll be selling it in the Festhalle Barn at Handworks and delivering it to customers who requested to pick it up at Handworks. A remote Lost Art Press team (look for a Swede or a redhead) will be selling the book at the Studley exhibit in nearby Cedar Rapids.
(Note: If you asked to pick up the book in Iowa you will need to come to the Festhalle Barn to pick it up. The Lost Art Press people at the exhibit will not have the list of people who ordered the book. They cannot give you your pre-ordered book. They can only sell you a book.)
In other good news, the commemorative 4×6 postcards have arrived. They are beautiful. If you have placed a pre-publication order by this point, you will receive a postcard.
Also, free domestic shipping on “Virtuoso” ends next week. If you order the book now, you will save $8 to $10, depending on where you live. And chances are good you will get a postcard, too.
After Handworks, the remainder of the pre-publication orders should ship the week of May 18.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. We hope to have information soon on a special poster that will be sold at the exhibit.
Several Lost Art Press authors will be available at Handworks to sign your books.
If you want to get Don Williams and Narayan Nayar to sign “Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley,” they have set up three times during the weekend for signings. The signings will be in nearby Cedar Rapids at the Scottish Rite Temple where the cabinet and workbench will be displayed. Directions here. Yes, there are tickets still available – details here.
Don is obligated to stay with the exhibit the entire time, so don’t look for him at Handworks. You’ll find only other bearded, suspendered men.
Here are the times for the three “Virtuoso” signings:
Friday at 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Saturday at 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday at noon to 1 p.m.
“Virtuoso” will be available for sale both at Handworks and at the exhibit.
Roy Underhill and ‘Calvin Cobb – Radio Woodworker!’ Roy Underhill will be at Handworks this year to deliver the keynote address at 10 a.m. Saturday and will be floating about the show at other times spreading mayhem.
We plan to corral him for a book-signing at 11 a.m. Friday morning in the Lost Art Press booth in the Festhalle. Bring your copy of “Calvin Cobb – Radio Woodworker!” or pick one up at the booth.
Other Lost Art Press Authors Peter Galbert has a booth at Handworks, so you can get your copy of “Chairmaker’s Notebook” signed there. George Walker, one of the authors of “By Hand & Eye,” will be at the show and is always happy to sign books. Matt Bickford, the author of “Mouldings in Practice,” has a booth in the Festhalle. Mike Siemsen, the host of “The Naked Woodworker,” is happy to sign your DVDs (pro tip: not on the silvery side). Joel Moskowitz of Tools for Working Wood and co-author of “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” should also be at Handworks.
And, of course, I’ll be there and happy to sign anything – babies, bare chests and books especially.
So if you had given up hope that it was too late to get a postcard, it’s not.
The full-color 4×6 postcards will accompany the first 1,000 copies of “Virtuoso” purchased through Lost Art Press, whether you opted to pick it up at Handworks or have it shipped to you. “Virtuoso” is available with free domestic shipping if ordered before May 13, 2015.
