On Press: ‘l’Art du Menuisier: The Book of Plates’ –
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.
