[MR] 12th/13th Century Medieval Chests Book Finally Out

[rmhowe]

(I'm sorry this is a bit late for the Holiday Season, however I
just received my copy last night. I've been waiting on it since
last February, and many of you have heard me reference the coming
publication of this book.)

The Caber Press, a division of Thompson Conservation Laboratories,
has finally reprinted a very large medieval chests article, and 
added the chest drawings and photos from another, into a 114 page 
paperback.

Church Chests of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries in England
by Philip Mainwaring Johnston, F.R.I.B.A., was originally printed
in the Archaeological Journal, Vol. 64, 1907, and has been 
reformatted into the new booklet. Some of the original measurements 
on the constructionally detailed drawings were a bit indistinct and 
those have been improved as well as the reformatted text. (They were
hard for me to make out in the originals.) It took Jack Thompson 
10 months off and on to accomplish this.

There are twenty four in text drawings with some showing 
multiple views of each chest in them. Some of these show 
nearly every detail, inside and out of the chests' 
constructions - something rarely ever seen in most other 
furniture histories; and many of them are measured. 
In addition there are also ten plates with twenty three 
additional photos in them. Mr. Thompson worked hard to 
bring out the details from the original photos and drawings 
and his excellent work shows. The back pages of the book 
also contain another fifteen direct rubbings from chip carved 
roundels on the actual chests. Meaning you can copy the 
originals. These are annotated with the reduction percentage 
sizes from the originals necessary for the reprinting.

There an additional ten drawings and photos of chests added to 
the book from a similar article (which text was not reprinted ).
It was a review by Charles Cox, LL.D, F.S.A. from the Reliquary
(circa 1902) of Ancient Coffers and Cupboards by Fred Roe, 
a book Johnston makes reference to in his long article.
In the current edition the dates of these particular chests are
not noted on the plates, something that will likely be corrected 
in a future reprint, but their provenance's are. (Jack and I 
talked about this last night.) These chests also show a variety of 
construction and carving styles. The first of these is provided 
with four measured views sufficient for reproduction. The rest 
are simply drawings and photos. Some of the carvings on these 
are quite complex.

The price of this paperback is $12.95 plus shipping ($3.50 U.S /
$4.50 Canada / write/email for rest of world).

Apart from buying the original articles in my research, and 
realizing how valuable they would be for many other medievalists, 
furniture builders and reenactors I have no financial interest in 
this enterprise. This is simply another one of my attempts to 
make something worthwhile for the reenactment community more 
widespread with Jack's cooperation. How many of you (or someone 
you know) have searched virtually in vain for constructional 
details of chests which are one of the most common items needed 
in our hobby?

Before I became permanently disabled with I was a former furniture 
shop foreman and the head cabinetmaker/top woodworker for a major 
university. I studied industrial arts in college and also worked 
in model making and the plastics industry. I have been interested
in medieval history for most of my lifetime. I know excellent 
detail when I see it. I built around a thousand pieces of furniture 
and hundreds of cabinets during my career. 

I knew that Mr. Thompson, to whom I have spoken over the phone 
but never met (as we live on opposite sides of the N. American
continent), frequently writes and reprints (even has them translated
from various languages) unusual books of interest to craftsmen and
artisans at reasonable cost and so suggested to him that it would 
be a considerable service to do so with these articles. 

There is nothing else as authentically detailed comparable to 
them I know of in print at the present time. There is nothing 
I know of elsewhere that is as detailed on chest construction 
for this time period - at least I haven't seen it and I own and
have read a lot of books on woodworking and other crafts.

Please do not assume that these being entitled Church Chests are
not suitable for Secular use. They most certainly are appropriate
for your daily use. Looking at all the carvings on them I would 
not term any specifically religious. The chests vary from iron 
bound dugouts with lids to highly carved chests with animal motifs.
For those who may not know most medieval furniture of early date 
that did survive survived in Churches. These chests were used as 
treasuries and for storage of vestments and records. 

The only shortcoming I can note in the details is that the locking 
mechanisms themselves are not internally detailed. All the other 
metal fittings are.  I believe you will be most pleased with the book.

To order the book(s) contact Jack, *NOT ME* (I DO NOT SELL THESE),
at:

Jack C. Thompson
Thompson Conservation Laboratories
7549 N. Fenwick
Portland, Oregon 97217
503/735-3942  (voice/answering machine/fax) 
(He is a night owl, call nights Pacific Time)  
tcl at teleport.com email address
http://www.teleport.com/~tcl/

................
Another previous reprint encouragement of mine: ;) 

For those of you who may not realize that another
book on a post Viking Chest, with it's metal and woodworking
tools, and even cooking implements was reprinted a couple
years ago - The Mastermyr Find, A Viking Age Tool Chest
from Gotland, is available from it's reprinter at:
Norm Larson Books, 
5426 E. Hwy 246, Lompoc, CA 93436.
Fax 805-735-8367, Ph 800-743-4766
The book costs $18.
Postage is $2 for first book
plus $.50 for each additional book to a maximum of $5.00
.larbooks at impulse.net 

I don't make a dime from the above either. ;)

Master Magnus Malleus, OL
© 2001 R.M. Howe
*No reposting my writings to newsgroups, especially rec.org.sca. 
I view this as violating copyright restrictions. As long as it's 
to reenactor or SCA -closed- subscriber based email lists or 
individuals I don't mind. It's meant to help people without 
aggravating me.* Inclusion, in the http://www.Florilegium.org/ 
as always is permitted. Use in reenactor or local SCA newsletters 
is permitted, also Tournaments Illuminated if desired.