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Post by promhandicam on Jan 1, 2008 22:17:05 GMT
Jacob recently mentioned 'Aunty' Joyce as being the reference for design details. Others (on the other side) have also recommended his book, The technique of furniture making. I was just wondering if anyone had compared this book with The Encycopedia of furniture making also by Joyce but edited by Alan Peters. The reason for asking is that the former is quite hard to come by - Amazon currently have links to 2 second hand copies each over £170 whereas The encyclopedia can be found for around £17 (on Abe books). There is a review on Amazon for the encyclopedia which says that the two are the same - word for word and page for page, but I'd be interested to know if anyone here had compared the two. If it is true, expect a flood of 'Techniques' on ebay - starting at around £80 and a sudden run on 'Encyclopedia'  Steve |
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Post by engineerone on Jan 1, 2008 22:28:45 GMT
steve, i haven't compared, but do have an alan peters version, seems ok to me, i think what peters did was bring in more modern for the time, techniques, other wise i think you are right. hth paul |
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Post by paulchapman on Jan 1, 2008 23:18:09 GMT
It's worth looking elsewhere for these books. I bought a copy of The Technique of Furniture Making by Joyce, Revised by Alan Peters from Pennyfarthing Tools last year for £12-50. I've also bought other books from second-hand book shops for realistic prices, which cost a fortune from Amazon. Cheers Paul |
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Post by promhandicam on Jan 1, 2008 23:43:33 GMT
Thanks for the replies Paul x 2. FWIW, I did find a copy of 'Techniques' at a reasonable price via Abe books which included international postage so hopefully one day it will arrive here . For folk in the UK, the Pennyfarthing Tools tip is a useful one to remember - I wouldn't have thought of them for books I must admit. I guess my original question was aimed more to help others that are looking for a good book on furniture making and are having trouble finding 'Techniques' at a reasonable price. Cheers, Steve |
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Post by paulchapman on Jan 1, 2008 23:50:17 GMT
I guess my original question was aimed more to help others that are looking for a good book on furniture making and are having trouble finding 'Techniques' at a reasonable price. There are a few books (woodworking and other) that I've been looking for but my experience is that most places on the internet price them out of reach. I've had far more success looking in second-hand and charity shops. Cheers Paul |
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Post by mrgrimsdale on Jan 2, 2008 6:14:28 GMT
Prices given on Abe are misleading and quite a few sellers simply overprice desireable books knowing that sooner or later someone will buy assuming the price to be a "market" price.
e.g Alan Peters "Cabinetmaking the Professional Approach" is on Abe at the moment at from a ridiculous £80 up to a fantastical £300. I got a copy from Abe for £12 - by doing a regular daily search until I got a sensible price.
For the dealer it's a calculated risk on price against turnover speed.
On the other hand many dealers want quick turnover and I bought most of Mrs Gs christmas book list for 50p each + p&p at typically £2.50. So the profit is in the speed and cost of p&p. Too long writing out the label and your profit is gone!
So just keep looking - 2nd hand shops too, and don't buy the 1st option unless it's obviously a bargain.
cheers
Jacob
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Post by Alf on Jan 2, 2008 8:56:26 GMT
Once again I say unto the masses - www.bookfinder.com It searches all the major online catalogues (like Abe, Amazon, Alibris etc) and lists both new and secondhand in one easy search. And no, they're not paying me anything! Cheers, Alf |
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Post by ocicat on Jan 2, 2008 10:07:55 GMT
Steve said
Steve I haven't made a direct comparison but I did read the same review as you so took a chance and bought "encyclopedia of furniture making" Quite what Alan Peters has added is hard to tell apart from a foreward. I suspect, as the inside cover says first published 1970, then it is indeed the original book rewritten as the rest is clearly Joyce. Interestingly (Hmmm) they have made a mistake and cocked up the "preface of the revised edition" pages and "introduction of the first edition" credited to each author but got the pages out of order so at first it was hard to tell who was saying what when until it dawns...printed in China ...lucky it wasn't all backwards :-)
Alan
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robo
Junior Member
Posts: 70
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Post by robo on Jan 2, 2008 10:45:13 GMT
They are both the same - as I found out to my cost!  If anybody wants the later addition - I have a new copy (apart from flicking through pages for comparison purposes ) going cheap? R |
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Post by modernist on Jan 2, 2008 11:59:20 GMT
Coincidentally I was looking at my copy of "Techniques" last night and conluded that although it does have a lot of "bible" material in it is a bit out of date and dry as dust in places. I also think the same about Alan Peters tome although I blame the publisher for that as they seem able to tone down any book to the same uninspiring level. Great cabinet makers both and I love all of AP's work but I don't think the book does him justice.
If JK had used the same publisher I doubt we would ever have heard of him!
Brian
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Post by Sgian Dubh on Jan 2, 2008 20:45:16 GMT
Whichever version you get look out for the, (is it deliberate?) error in the directions for marking out dovetails on page 195 (of my version.) I've got a third edition The Technique of Furniture Making printed in 1980. It's the bit where the rule is laid at an angle across the width of the board. The way the rule is placed will give two narrowere tails on the outside edges. The proper placement of the rule is as shown below. As to the text, I don't think Alan Peters added anything significant to that. The only difference I recall from seeing copies with his input is some colour photographs, but nothing else significant. Joyce is not one of the easiest books to plough through, but if you can stick with the disjointedness between the text and the placement of the matching images, then just about all the information you'll ever need is there up to 1970. After that there are new techniques, materials and hardware that Joyce can't know about, so it's not surprising he didn't cover it, but you can get that newer information elsewhere. Slainte.  |
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Post by scrums on Jan 3, 2008 16:50:06 GMT
ho ho ho........some more stuff to go on ebay - unless anyone wants to make an offer. I have both the Joyce and the Cabinetmaking by Peters and anyone interested in World Woods in colour?
Chris.
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Post by paulchapman on Jan 3, 2008 18:45:56 GMT
Chris, PM sent. Cheers Paul |
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