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 ...
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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. '... a classic ... Mr Sturt's masterpiece. A delightfully urbane and informing book, full of valuable material for the social historian and a sheer pleasure to read.' New Statesman 'It shows in the author a combination of the gifts of a handicraftsman, the actual maker of things, with the powers of a writer, in a way not common in English literature.' The Times Literary Supplement
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New. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 266 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
A wonderful record of woodworking 100 years ago. The wheelwright died and his son who was an educated man took over and wrote this highly readable book.
JohnL
Dec 15, 2010
Absolute classic
Sturt's In the Wheelwright's Shop is a description of the family business that the author ran in the early C20 in Farnham, Surrey, England. Making the wooden wheels for farm-carts and wagons is a most difficult and skilled job, and the description of the whole involved process is the most amazing part of this book.
This book is beautifully and sensitively written and reflects a truly pre-modern world, where the craftsmen worked mainly for the honour and dignity of their craft, and to serve the people of their town and surrounding areas. (Sturt relates, for example, that the business had been losing money for years simply because the craftsmen had been charging traditional prices for their work, not realising that other prices had been rising during their working lives).
This is a style of living and working that is completely antithetical to the capitalist world we live in, but the premodern world gave people's lives a meaning that we do not have in our society, where 'the economy' leaves most people, rightly, unengaged.
I would recommend it to anyone interested in traditional crafts and to anyone interested in researching the transition between premodernity and modernity.
