Dear Sir, I wish to register a complaint about this plane!

[AndyT]

I was pleased to find, in a local second-hand bookshop recently, two bound volumes of "Amateur Work Illustrated" from 1883-4. This was a monthly magazine devoted to the sort of things that a Victorian gent would enjoy in his spare time - building a pipe organ; making imitation stained glass windows; taking photos to exhibit on the magic lantern; sawing away at fretwork to ornament the parlour - all good clean fun.

One regular feature of the magazine was a column devoted to copying out manufacturers' announcements about new tools, describing them in glowing terms. (Does this sound familiar?)

So it was no surprise to see this, in April 1884. (I realise they used a lot more words than we would now, but bear with it for the full period feel. I think the contributors must have been paid by the hundred words!)

So far, so good. I'd be sending off my 3s 3d in happy anticipation. But by the time the June issue comes out, we get this:

I think it's nice to see that, although we may think of ourselves as thoroughly modern and up to date, all we do is follow down the paths laid down by our forebears... :-D

 

[n0legs]

It never ceases to amaze me what you find Andy =D>
The next time I'm "over the valley" visiting the MIL I'm popping in to see you :lol:
I reckon it would be a few fascinating hours in your company.
Good find.

 

[ajmacleod]

Brilliant! I love Victorian and Edwardian literature (particularly related to technology/craft/bicycles)... like a lot of their woodwork their general standards of craftsmanship in writing, illustration and printing too often put our trashy, disposable modern efforts to shame.

 

[dp341]

Excellent, I particularly like the bit where he's told to be more polite when he sends the plane back

 

[Scouse]

I was pleased to find, in a local second-hand bookshop recently, two bound volumes of "Amateur Work Illustrated" from 1883-4.

You lucky pineapple!

Bitter jealousy aside, as someone currently scratching their head, @rse and anything else that might provide inspiration as to the best way to take the hump out of the sole of a CS88, I sympathise with that poor bloke!

 

[jimi43]

Oh my...that is a magic find there Prof!!!

It reminds me of many a battle seen on forums and network marketing sites of late...and the conversation is no less "spirited"!

A singularly good article Holmes! :mrgreen:

Jimi

 

[AndyT]

Thanks all for the appreciative comments. I thought I couldn't be the only one who enjoys this sort of reading matter. I have read plenty of old books as pdf downloads - and the excellent "Work" republishing project from Tools for Working Wood - but it's always nicer to get your hands on the real period item.

In a nice twist to this particular story, the Munks Patent Smoother was presumably not a great success so is now a very rare collectible, an example of a dead end design before the unstoppable rise of the superior Bailey/Stanley design.

I could not find many references to it. Tony Murland gives it two stars for rarity in his Antique Tool Value Guide with a price of £600 - 1200 (2007/8 ).

Martin J Donnelly has sold a few and has one for sale at $1195 - but makes no mention of how flat the sole is... :wink:

 

[L2wis]

Excellent read haha!

Here's a stock photo of one of the planes: http://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-GB/as ... s-rosewood

 

[bugbear]

Thanks all for the appreciative comments. I thought I couldn't be the only one who enjoys this sort of reading matter. I have read plenty of old books as pdf downloads - and the excellent "Work" republishing project from Tools for Working Wood - but it's always nicer to get your hands on the real period item.

Is "Amateur Work" the same as "Work" ?

BugBear

 

[G S Haydon]

Fantastic Andy! Nothing really changes does it, feeling envious of your terrific find.

 

[AndyT]

Is "Amateur Work" the same as "Work" ?

BugBear

I don't think so, but there are connections.

There is a very informative disentangling of the various titles in comments on the TFWW project here.

"Amateur Work Illustrated" was published by Ward Lock, and ran from 1881 to 1888. The first editor was Francis Chilton Young, billed on the cover as "Author of Every Man His Own Mechanic".

"Work, " with various subtitles, started in 1889, and was published by Cassell and Co. According to the discussion linked to above, Francis Chilton Young was the first editor, succeeded by Paul Hasluck.

I have not done a side by side search, but some of the material in "Amateur Work Illustrated" seems very familiar and may have also appeared in "Work" - the editors were great recyclers, taking material from the magazines and republishing it in book form, over and over again, with very similar titles.

For anyone wanting to read more, the good news is that seven volumes are easily available as pdfs or to read online at the Internet Archive as seen in this search: https://archive.org/search.php?query="amateur work illustrated" AND mediatype:texts - so fill your boots!

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Not sure about that handle. No wonder it didn't sell, even at 3/3d post paid!

One thing that does occur is that the Victorians didn't half work hard. Have you noticed that all the Victorian magazines all employed the same bloke to answer reader's letters? Poor old Ed must have scribbled his fingers to the bone....

 

[Sheffield Tony]

In a nice twist to this particular story, the Munks Patent Smoother was presumably not a great success so is now a very rare collectible, an example of a dead end design before the unstoppable rise of the superior Bailey/Stanley design.

It had occured to me that, seeing as you never see anything of the like on ebay, the critical Mr Savage may be nearer the mark than the original enthusiastic article !

 

[AndyT]

I've been reading on, and have just found the end of the story, in the October issue. Mr Savage is not the only unhappy customer...

So the answer did turn out to be "Buy a Stanley!"

 

[bugbear]

Sounds like the magazine "review plane" was similar to the first E-type jags the driving journalists tried.

They would indeed do 150mph.

Wow.

...having been specially tuned by the Jaguar mechanics.

Production E-types were less quick.

BugBear

 

[L2wis]

haha fantastic read

 

[rxh]

"Work, " with various subtitles, started in 1889, and was published by Cassell and Co. According to the discussion linked to above, Francis Chilton Young was the first editor, succeeded by Paul Hasluck.

To be read in the smallest room?

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

Not pertaining to this article, but to a comment made throughout the thread about vintage articles/books. Rob Lee's father, Leonard Lee, through his publishing company Algrove Publishing, has published quite a few vintage books. I have purchased quite a few more than a few a various times, many for myself and many for gifts. They are listed in the "Woodworking" section of the Lee Valley website, under, of course, "books". Quite good, and fairly inexpensive!

 

[boggy]

I have bound copies of 'Work' 1890-95 which are now probably valueless as the content is available on-line. Paul Hasluck, the editor must have been very prolific as I also have his 'Painter Work. and Cassell's Cyclopedia of Mechanics also edited by Hasluck. Another book of the same vintage is 'Workshop Makeshifts' by Hans J S Cassal 1898.

 

[bugbear]

I have bound copies of 'Work' 1890-95 which are now probably valueless as the content is available on-line.

Oh, I don't know about that. Certainly, the existence of re-print catalogues has not reduced the (high!) value of original old catalogues, and a 1st edition of Alice in Wonderland is darned expensive, despite the content being readily available.

BugBear