The Joiner and Cabinet Maker (book)

The Joiner and Cabinet Maker is a huge book, with more than 370 pages of detailed handtool instruction, including many processes that have not been covered before in the early woodworking literature.

In 1839, an English publisher issued a small book on woodworking that had escaped detection by scholars, historians and woodworkers. Written by an anonymous tradesman, it tells the fictional tale of Thomas, a lad of 13 or 14 who is apprenticed to a rural shop that builds everything from built-ins to more elaborate veneered casework. The book was written to guide young people who might be considering a life in the joinery or cabinetmaking trades.

Unlike other woodworking books of the time, it focuses on how apprentices can obtain the basic skills needed to work in a hand-tool shop. It begins with Thomas tending the fire to keep the hide glue warm, and it details how he learns stock preparation, many forms of joinery and casework construction. It ends with Thomas building a veneered mahogany chest of drawers that is French polished. This is not a book for children; it is a book for anyone exploring hand-tool woodworking.

Thomas builds three projects during the course of the book, and there is enough detail in the text and illustrations to re-create them just as they were built in 1839.

The expanded edition contains:
A historical snapshot of early 19th-century England by Joel Moskowitz, including the state of the labor force and woodworking technology
The complete text of the 1839 original, unabridged, plus a chapter on so-called modern tools added in a later edition, with footnotes by Moskowitz
Chapters by Christopher Schwarz on building the three projects with hand tools: a packing box, a dovetailed schoolbox and a chest of drawers
Complete construction drawings and cutting lists

Published by Lost Art Press. Hardbound, sewn, printed on quality paper and made entirely in the United States.