Although examples of decorated tin exist before 1868, the advent of the printed biscuit tin heralded a new era in decorative packaging. These tins represented some of the earliest-known point-of-sale itms. The designs were carefully researched and reflected current art trends as well as everyday objects such as mailboxes, hand bags and vehicles. Famous artists such as Mabel Lucie Attwell and Owen Jones were employed, but the majority of the skilled designers remain unknown.

The author brings enormous scholarship to bear on a subject which has remained relatively obscure, despite the fact that it represents one of the first reflections of popular art made available through a mass-produced object.

The previous edition of this classic book sells for as much as $200.00. A reprint is much-needed and has long been awaited.
Price: $50.00

It took years for woodworker David Freedman to develop and perfect the box-making techniques he shares in this book. Accompanying his techniques are detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to make 16 handsome boxes. In addition to Freedman's designs, there are also selected projects from a number of professional box makers.

The book begins with the fundamentals of box making: the elements of good design, wood selection and preparation, and finishing. The basics are followed by tips and techniques on cutting, gluing, and reinforcing joints, decorating lids, and installing hinges.

In later chapters, you'll learn more sophisticated techniques, such as making spectacular bookmatched lid panels, sprucing up the interiors with lining, dividers, and trays, using frame-and-panel lid construction, dovetails, and finger joints, and dealing with specialty hardware.

Whether you're a beginning woodworker or an accomplished box maker searching for design ideas, you'll find this book comprehensive, easy to follow, and full of inspiration.

"valuable for its techniques, including a lengthy discussion of installing hinges and other hardware."

-- Arizona Republic, Oct.'97

The author and photographer, Michael Freeman, is a long-term expert on Southeast Aisa and has visited and photographed these temples many times. This revised edition includes not only the major temples such as Phimai and Phmon Rung, whose architecture and carving compares favorably with temples in Cambodia but includes many hitherto little-known sites.
Price: $80.00

Whether your goal is to keep out the rain or create a dramatic appearance, the 19 articles from Fine Homebuilding magazine provide advice for choosing and applying the right roofing material for any house.

You'll find wide-ranging articles that tell how to lay out, design and build common and uncommon residential roofs. You'll learn to plan and build gable roofs, hip roofs and dormers and how to frame with trusses. Plus how pros handle tricky situations like irregular hips and pitches.

Oliver Garnett guides the reader through the complex world of historical styles and ornament, drawing on examples from the unrivaled group of houses now in the care of the National Trust.

Firstly, he examines some of the broader stylistic issues: what do we mean by style? How was it created, disseminated, exploited, revived and reinterpreted?

He then looks at some of the key "building blocks" of style - the types of ornament that you will encounter most frequently in a historic building. Numerous illustrations of specific decorative details from National Trust houses help to elucidate the argument.

Finally, he provides thumbnail sketches of the stylistic labels that have traditionally been applied to British interiors, from "Tudor" to "Modern Movement." Many of these labels conceal as much as they reveal, but the way that they have been creatively misunderstood by later designers is all part of the story of style.
Price: $18.99