{"product_id":"colonial-craftsmen-and-the-beginnings-of-american-industry-9780801862281","title":"Colonial Craftsmen: And the Beginnings of American Industry","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe vanished ways of colonial Americas skilled craftsmen are vividly reconstructed in this superb book by Edwin Tunis. With incomparable wit and learning  and in over 450 meticulous drawings  the author describes the working methods and products  houses and shops  town and country trades  and individual and group enterprises by which the early Americans forged the economy of the New World. In the tiny coastal settlements  which usually sprang up around a mill or near a tanyard  the first craftsmen set up their trades. The blacksmith  cooper  joiner  weaver  cordwainer  and housewright  working alone or with several assistants  invented their own tools and devised their own methods. Soon they were making products that far surpassed their early models: the American ax was so popular that English ironmongers often labeled their own axes \"American\" to sell them more readily. In the town squares a colonist could have his bread baked to order  bring in his wig to be curled  have his eyeglasses ground  his medicine prescription filled  or buy snuff for his many pocket boxes. With the thriving trade in \"bespoke\" or made-to-order work  fine American styles evolved; many of these are priceless heirlooms nowthe silverware of Paul Revere and John Coney  redware and Queensware pottery  Poyntell hand-blocked wallpaper  the Kentucky rifle  Conestoga wagon  and the iron grillework still seen in some parts of the South. The author discusses in detail many of the trades which have since developed into important industries  like papermaking  glassmaking  shipbuilding  printing  and metalworking  often reconstructing from his own careful research the complex equipment used in these enterprises. The ingenious  liberty-loving artisans left few written records of their work  and only Mr. Tunis  with his painstaking attention to authentic detail and his vast knowledge  could present such a complete treasury of the way things were done before machines obliterated this phase of early American life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647613427765,"sku":"ByrdShop_0801862280","price":25.43,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780801862281.jpg?v=1781695764","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/colonial-craftsmen-and-the-beginnings-of-american-industry-9780801862281","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}