The Builder's Jewel by Batty Langley

G

Gary Laroff

Member
This book is currently in stock at Powell's, the largest bookstore in the United States and with a significant web presence.  It is located here in Portland, Oregon.  This might be a recent reprint, so furniture makers and not book collectors should be interested.  There are currently 25 copies in stock at $21.95 each.  ISBN number is 1432670115.  In case the following link doesn't get inserted, go to www.powells.com and search for the ISBN number.  I do not work at Powells or have any financial interest in them, etc. etc.

Happy reading.

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=61-9781432670115-0
 
I received my copy of The Builder's Jewel today.  Here are some initial impressions.

The full name for this book is “The Builder's Jewel; or the Youth's Instructor and Workman's Remembrancer: Explaining Short and Easy Rules Made Familiar to the Meanest Capacity, for Drawing and Working” by Batty Langley and Thomas Langley.  It seems to have been first published in 1741.

The only copies seen on the Internet to date are incomplete slightly later reprints in random condition and priced from $400 to $2,000.  This new paperback edition from Kessinger Publishing, priced at $21.95 seems to be an excellent photo-offset of a complete or fairly complete edition from 1808.

My recollection is that Mack Headley has a copy and that the page size was very small.  This is a standard 6-in. x 9-in. paperback with the text and diagrams filling around 4-in. x 5-in. of each page.

There are 32 pages of text and instructions referencing 99 pages of detailed 18th Century figures.  Between the main text pages and the figures is a handy 30 page glossary called “The Builder’s Dictionary”.

The text and figures cover the classical orders without making them overly complex or difficult.  There is a lot less detail than in Chippendale, but the instructions and columns appear usable.  There are three pages of figures on The Manner of Fluting Ionick and Corinthian Columns.  The diagrams are excellent and I need to try to draw these.  I’m sure his Manner of Dividing the Flutes and Fillets of Pilasters will help me better design fluted quarter columns.

There are a lot of figures on building trusses and moldings.  The moldings aren’t taken straight from the classical columns as in Chippendale, who makes the moldings nearly impossible to duplicate.  In contrast, Batty Langley defines 1 minute as the thickness of the fillet of the molding so that the whole design process is simplified.  Apparently Langley intended his book to be used and perhaps made the pages small so that it would be carried by craftsmen.

I’ve just started bouncing around through this book, but am sure it will spend more time being used at my drafting table than gathering dust on the shelf.  This one is a keeper.  There is no doubt why it was reprinted over and over again for perhaps 100 years.

Gary Laroff
Portland, Oregon
 
Hi Gary,

Thanks for the heads-up on this. If people are interested in getting an idea of the contents they may wish to take a look at the 1808 edition available online at Google Books.

Since there has been some recent discussion of fluting on this forum, I specifically looked for that information in the online version. The page(s) (12-13) of the text related to fluting are missing, but the illustrations appear to be present - and show a different proportion between the flutes and fillets than that promulgated by Nicholson. Good reminder that there is room for personal interpretation.

If you are interested, Nicholson, in _Practical Carpentry, Joinery and Cabinet-Making_, c. 1826, also touched on fluting of pilasters. Also available online at Google Books.

Don McConnell
Eureka Springs, AR
 
Hi Don,

I was going to send an updated message that I sat down to work on the fluting and found that pages 12 and 13 are also missing from the book as discussed above.  The figures are there as Fig 25 - 27, but as the Roman numberals XXV, XXVI and XXVII.  I was going to hold off with this comment until I found what else was missing.  This looks like the same book as Google has online, but at the current price it was worth buying.

Gary Laroff
Portland, Oregon
 
Hi Gary et al,

At the current reprint price, I agree that it is worth buying. In fact, it was after getting some idea of the contents, online, that I decided to order a copy from Powell's. It has been shipped, so is enroute "as we speak."

The online version allows for simple word and phrase searches within the text, but I decided that the hard copy would make it easier to flip between the text and illustrations, as well as browse through it while away from the computer. In the shop, for example.

Thanks, again, for bringing this to our attention.

Don McConnell
Eureka Springs, AR
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top