| Woodworker Manual #5:
Franklin H Gottshall -- A Little Recognized "Classic" in American
Woodworking Annals Note
to Readers: Layout of chapters is still in flux. Each
chapter's narrative is "in progress", and, chapter-by-chapter, will be
uploaded as parts are completed. My experience writing books published
in paper only translates so far when it comes to writing an "online"
book. For me, at least, the change in format, especially the idea of
being confronted by a video screen of text and images, rather than
physical pages of text and images, requires learning anew a host of
techniques that applies in traditional publishing. The saving grace of
digitized publishing is, however, that unlike the paper format, nothing
is carved in stone. With the digitized format, numerous variations in
style, organization, and so forth, can be tried, until arriving at what
seems like a reasonable, fairly attractive set of results.
Read More details
on Gottshall coming 5-01-07
1931: Franklin H. Gottshall. Simple
Colonial Furniture: Building Your Own Family Heirlooms.
Bonanza Books, 1931.
Indexed in Index to Handicrafts
1936
1937:
Franklin
H. Gottshall. How to Design Period Furniture,
Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co.
Indexed
in Index to Handicrafts 1943
Gottshall’s 1937 book
is one of the landmark publications in woodworking, pretty much still
in demand today as a source of inspiration, ideas, and design
principles. Below, in the gray-shaded box, is Gottshall's "Foreword". I
have added a few caveats, in square brackets, at the bottom.
FOREWORD
This book,
with its principles of design directly related to furniture of the
important periods, is presented with the hope that it is a step toward
improvement in a field where improvement is desirable. Good taste in
furniture design, as in all arts, may be cultivated. The acquisition of
fine judgment and good taste is seldom the result of chance. Definite
rules, of a type that do not con-fine the designer within limits that
are too narrow, will be of material assistance in laying the foundation
for designs that are consistently superior in beauty and merit.
The material
and information is presented so that illustrations and descriptions are
as near together as possible. This makes the assimilation of vital
facts and information easier than where more turning of pages is
necessary. Dimensions have been given in every case where this was
possible or desirable. While it is frankly admitted that these cannot
fit every case or problem that will come up, they are, however,
sufficiently accurate to form sound bases for the type of experiments
that will be necessary to formulate original designs. The author's aim,
throughout the book, has been to aid the designer who wishes to do
original work. For this same reason, a rather lengthy and complete
glossary has been added, which, with its references andcross
references, together with references constantly given in the text,
makes the finding of valuable information and definite facts easy.
In addition
to the large number of illustrations whose scope is limited to the
presentation of information of a general character, definite projects
too have been included. We refer to the projects shown on Plates 7, 8,
13, 15, 20, 25, 27, 31, 36, 37, 42, 46, 49, 50, 53, 55, and 60.
Most of
these projects have been built from the drawings herewith presented,
and photographs and all other essential data are given. This was done
with two aims in view. One was to show the student the correct manner
in which to work up his designs, and the other aim was to tie the
information given in each chapter definitely to a case problem.
A great deal
of the information appearing in this book has never been presented in a
single volume before. In order to make the presentation of such a large
amount of information possible it was necessary to do two things.
First, the necessary and desirable facts and characteristics concerning
each style had to be collected. Secondly, they had to be presented in
such a manner that authenticity would not be impaired or lost. This, it
is believed, has been accomplished by working up new and original
designs in most cases, in which this information is clearly shown in
its proper forms and combinations. Many authors have tried to present
information on the important periods, resulting in exhaustive works,
usually in several large volumes. One author, for example, in
presenting the characteristics of American furniture alone, took three
large volumes and several thousand photographs and a great number of
line drawings. By adopting the method of presentation used in this
book, the prohibitive expense of gathering many photographs is not
necessary. The essential characteristics of a large number of chairs,
for in-stance, may be combined in one illustration, which presents,
perhaps more in-formation than ten or more photographs, on which it is
difficult or impossible to show pertinent facts relating to the
project. The styles and techniques of drawing have also purposely been
varied, to aid the draftsman who lacks experience.
The book is
intended for three classes of people: (1) For schools and teachers, to
use as a text or reference book. (2) For professional men, including
furniture designers, draftsmen, architects, and interior decorators.
(3) For amateurs who design and build furniture as a hobby.
The need of each class has been definitely kept in mind when the
material was being assembled.
The author wishes to thank the
following people for material assistance and suggestions:
William
Ball, Sr., of Hope Manor, West Chester, Pa., for permission to make
drawings of hardware which he manufactures, shown in Figures 2, 7, and
10, Plate 6; Figures 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11,12, 13, 14, and 15, Plate
12; Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, g, 10, and 12, Plate 21; Plate 26;
Figures 1 to 12, Plate 38; Figures 1 to 9 and 11 to 18, Plate 54.
The Berry Schools, Mt. Berry, Ga., for photographs of Figures 46, 103,
126, and 235; Queen Anne hall table, page 95; Sheraton chair, page 151;
mirror, page 153; Brothers Adam armchair, page 163.
The Grand
Rapids Brass Co., Grand Rapids, Mich., for permission to make drawings
of hardware which they manufacture, shown in Figures 1, 3, 9, 11, 12,
and 14, Plate 6; Figures 1, 3, and 10, Plate 12; Figures 5 and 11,
Plate 21; Figures 13 to 19, Plate 38; Plate 47; and Figure 10, Plate 54.
The
Metropolitan Museum of New York for photographs of important pieces in
their collection, shown in Figures 41, 61, 67, 86, 144, 172, 190, 241,
and 252; the Queen Anne settee, page 97; Chippendale wing chair, page
125; and the chest of drawers, page 229.
Wallace
Nutting, and The Old America Co., of Framingham, Mass., for photographs
of Figures 81, 94, 122, 165, 274, 275, 281, and 286; the Sheraton
bedstead, page 154; the chest on chest, page 227; and Figures 6, 8, and
13, Plate 6.
The F. Schumacher Co., of New York, for
photographs of Figures 47 to 55 inclusive and of the American Federal
chair on page 229, and for permission to use printed material relating
to fabrics, formerly published by them.
The Elgin A.
Simonds Co., of Syracuse, N. Y., for photographs of Figures 66, 107.
108, 223, 226, 243, and 256; the illiam and Mary table, page 82; Queen
Anne chair, page 95; Sheraton wing chair, page 153; and the Spanish
table, page 196.
Mr. L. Day Perry, Editor of Popular
Homecraft, for permission to use material published by the author in a
series of articles on principles of design.
Mr. John J.
Metz, Editor of The Industrial Arts and Vocational Education
Magazine, for permission to use material published in a series of
articles on principles of design.
Mr. Nelson Grofe, artist, of
Boyer-town, Pa., for material aid in working up the chapter on Color.
To all
others, who may have been missed in the foregoing list, but whose
encouragement and assistance the author gratefully acknowledges.
[Soon after looking at
Jacques-Andres Roubo's masterful 4-volume woodworker's manual,
the 1767
L'Art du Mensuisier --
especially the 20-page glossary -- it occurred to me that Gottshall's
ideas are not as original as I thought. There is nothing wrong with
using the methods of other authorities in the field -- on the contrary,
such practice is commendable: this is how bodies of knowledge are
constructed -- "by standing on the shoulders of giants, we can see
further". What I fault Gottshall for, however, is that with
all the credit he bestows above, he fails to acknowledge his debt to
Roubo. Now, you ask: "Could have Gottshall come up with his ideas
familiarity with Roubo?" The answer, if "Yes", of course, even though a
yes is doubtful, given the knowledge of Roubo's
contributions exhibited in early 20th century scholarship --
as shown here link needs changing.]
FRANKLIN H. GOTTSHALL
|
Articles
found for "Gottshall, Franklin H.":
| Article Title |
Issue |
Pages |
| Design
for the Craftsman |
010 | 5 |
| design
help in |
014 | 78,
7 (MPF) | | Furniture of Pine, Poplar, and Maple, reviewed |
008 | 29,
31 | | Heirloom Furniture |
014 | 78
(MPF) | | highboy by |
010 | 5 |
| How
to Design Period Furniture |
010 | 5 |
| How
to Make Colonial Furniture, plans in |
003 | 53 |
| Masterpieces
of Furniture Making, reviewed |
017 | 29 |
| on
carving cockleshell |
012 | 74-75
(C, PC) | | on Nutting |
040 | 24 |
| on
Queen Anne style |
003 | 40-42
(MPF) | | on setting up small shop |
024 | 50
(SW) | | plans in |
003 | 53 |
| plans
in |
017 | 67
(MMM) | | Provincial Furniture Design and Construction |
040 | 24 |
| Provincial
Furniture Design, reviewed |
043 | 22 |
| Reproducing
Antique Furniture, plans in |
003 | 53 |
| Simple
Colonial Furniture, plans in |
003 | 53 |
| Wood
Carving and Whittling for Everyone, reviewed |
017 | 26-28 |
1976:
Franklin H. Gottshall, "Queen Anne: Styling Elements Used in Table
Designs", Fine Woodworking no 3,
Summer 1976, page 40
|
