Bibliomania - Historic Woodworking and Trades

The Village Carpenter – Walter Rose  -  a nice little memoir of what it was really like to earn your keep as a woodworker in a rural village

The Woodwrights Eclectic Workshop – RoyUnderhill

The Woodwrights Workbook – RoyUnderhill

The Woodwrights Shop – RoyUnderhill

The Woodwrights Companion – RoyUnderhill

The Woodwrights Apprentice – RoyUnderhill

The Woodwrights Guide – Working Wood with Edge and Wedge – RoyUnderhill

 Note:  As most woodworkers already know, RoyUnderhill is in a league all of his own

The Mechanics Companion – Peter Nicholson – be prepared to read – these old instructional books are mostly text

L’Art du Menuisier – A.J. Roubo  -  Wonderful illustrations and instructions – but you’ll have to bone up on your French

English Historic Carpentry – Cecil A. Hewitt – wonderful illustrations of immense framing and joining

Country Crafts Today – J.E. Manners – common crafts that you’ve probably never heard of

The Cooper and His Trade – Kenneth Kilby – the world was once full of coopers who were some of the most protective of their trade secrets - now the trade is dominated by a few high tech cooperages that satisfy the needs of the distillery and winemaking businesses

A Museum of Early American Tools – Eric Sloane

A Reverence for Wood – Eric Sloane  -  Everything by Eric Sloane is a treasure!

Mechanick Exercises or Doctrine of Handy-Works – Joseph Moxon – covers all of the building and some industrial trades of his age

Many of the historic texts can be viewed as PDF files, stored in digital collections of private, public and scholastic libraries around the world.  Spend some time with Google before you “drag up” and head off to your local library, which is not likely to have many of these titles.  Of course you could pass this list along to your head librarian as a suggestion for acquisition.  You’d be doing local woodworkers a favor.

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