Practical Handywork For All

[James C]

Received a package in the post today that got me quite excited.

Look what was inside.

The nicest thing about these is that they are still in the original packing box sent from London to Essex. The books are immaculate condition and contain a whole range of how-to's on Carpentry, Joinery, Bricklaying, Plastering, Building Maintenance, Furniture and Cabinet Making and Metalwork.

They have excellent fold out plates for diagrams and large photos as well.

I also noticed that these books must be nearly as old as their initial publication date as the packaging had this postmark.

A definite GR there. As the books where first published in 1952 I imagine these must have been sent around then, at least before 1953 and the intoduction of QIIR stamps.

I saw a set of these in a bookshop a couple of years ago in quite poor condition for £40, and decided I would endeavour to find a better set.

These set me back the princely sum of £20.30

 

[DTR]

Well done! I have volume 4, very good book

 

[bugbear]

I'm glad I tend to buy books, not sell them!

If I was selling, I'd be gutted at that price!

BugBear

 

[James C]

Indeed. I hope to post a bit of a review once I have read through but so far they seem a bit of a bargain for the amount and breadth of information they cover.

 

[wallace]

Isn't that weird I have the exact same set still in its packaging. There in storage in the loft and your post has just reminded me about them. My wife bought me them 2 years ago

 

[James C]

They are proving an interesting and informative read so I would definitely recommend breaking them out.

 

[Adam9453]

After seeing your post, I have just bought a nice black and gold set off ebay for myself.
Even when I'm not reading them, they'll look good on the shelf in the workshop

 

[dickm]

Blimey - I looked at the pictures and thought "nice example of 19th/early 20th century books". Then saw that they were 1950s, which I remember all too clearly!
Am always amazed at how old-fashioned books still looked up to the 1960s. I've got a Brit Journal of Photography almanac for 1961, which looks even older than the Practical handywork volumes.
At least the handywork content is still mostly very relevant - 1960 photo technology seems like the dark ages now.

 

[AndyT]

Lovely stuff! I have quite a few similar publications but not that exact set. I do like the assumption from back then that a responsible householder would want to take on really quite ambitious jobs of building, engineering and repairing.

 

[James C]

Indeed. Expectations of skills definitely were higher. Simple projects seem quite technical by today's accepted standards