The Wheelwright's Shop | George Sturt | Excellent View into an Esoteric Past

The Wheelwright's Shop | George Sturt | A wonderful and poignent book

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The Wheelwright's ...

	The Wheelwright's Shop George Sturt Cambridge University Press, 1963 - 248 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

George Sturt's frank and moving account of his trade as a wheelwright in the late nineteenth century offers a unique glimpse into the working lives of craftsmen in a world since banished by technology. The wheelwright's shop where he entered business had been operating for two centuries; this chronicle, first published in 1923, is a poignant record of that tradition, written as it was passing into history. E. P. Thompson's new foreword acclaims the significance of Sturt's engaging narrative as a vital document in the history of labour at the turn of the century.

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Excellent View into an Esoteric Past

A very enjoyable read that allows the reader a peek into an era when people "made things" from start to finish and took pride in their craft. There's also a good bit of information on traditional woodworking and artisanship in general. I highly recommend the book.

A wonderful and poignent book

This is about my favorite book in the world. The author paints a wistfull and heart-felt picture of a world, which is, sadly, almost gone. He was the last of a family of English farm-cart and wagon builders, who's craft was the high-end of traditional technical woodworking. This book is beautifully written-both on the sentence level, and in it's loving descriptions of human skill and practical knowledge. I have been a fulltime professional woodworker and student of traditional woodworking for more than thirty years, and this book, more than any other, has helped me understand the connection between what I do, and who I am.

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A fine read for the woodworker

I enjoyed this book as it gives a look at a 19th century wheel and cart building business. The author writes clearly and I was kept fascinated at how wheels and carts were made fully by hand. The craftsmanship needed was impressive. A good read.

Good Book

I found this book very fascinating. It explains how wagon and buggy wheels were made before modern tools were available. It talks about what the wheelwright looked for when buying wood and some of the techniques used to construct the wheels.

This is an abriged edition

George Sturt's original work provided an unparalleled glimpse into the work, lives, and social environment of craftsmen at the end of the transition from the English craft to the modern industrial economy. The edition offered here is an abridged version of the original; retaining most of the how-to elements, but excluding the insights into the lives and characters of the craftsmen working in the Wheelwright's Shop. If all that interests you are how wagon wheels where constructed, the abridged version will suffice. If you want to understand the revolutionary transition from the craft tradition to the era of unskilled industrial mass production, then continue searching for Sturt's complete text.

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reviews: page 1, 2

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