We reached two major milestones this week with both “Woodworking in Estonia” and “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Furniture.” Both are on schedule for a fall release.
On Thursday I handed over all the files for “Roubo on Furniture” to designer Wesley Tanner, who was responsible for both versions (deluxe and standard) of the first volume, “Roubo on Marquetry.”
We will print both standard and deluxe editions of “Roubo on Furniture.” The standard edition will be released first. I suspect it will be about 400 pages long (the marquetry book was 264 pages), with a retail price of about $60. I think there will be a digital version of the standard edition, though that decision is up to the authors.
After we get the standard edition to the printer, we will open subscriptions to the deluxe edition. It will be printed to the same heaven-scraping standards as the deluxe edition of “Roubo on Marquetry,” which was named on the “50 Books of the Year” by the AIGA.
We will take orders for the book for 45 days. Then we’ll print that many (plus a few for ourselves). So everyone who wants one will get one. More details on pricing will come later this summer as we dig into the production costs.
‘Woodworking in Estonia’ by Ants Viires
On Friday I handed over the final page proofs to Megan Fitzpatrick for a final copy edit of “Woodworking in Estonia.” Suzanne Ellison is working on the index plus a fascinating chapter about the illegal English translation from the 1960s.
If all goes to plan, “Woodworking in Estonia” will go to press at the end of June and be out the first week in August. It’s going to be about 300 pages and have a retail price in the neighborhood of $47. I’m afraid we do not have the digital rights for this book so there will not be a pdf version.
So I get to take the rest of the year off….
Not really. I’m hard at work on revising my book “Handplane Essentials” for Popular Woodworking Magazine and writing “Roman Workbenches.” Maybe I’ll take that vacation next June.
— Christopher Schwarz