Arguably the finest and most beautiful American forestry work
October 15, 2024 12:04 PM Subscribe
Hough’s first step was technological: he patented a machine capable of cutting razor-thin wood veneers in three directions: transverse, radial, and tangential. His initial impulse was commercial. The wooden cards were so thin that they could be used as projection slides in Magic Lanterns. (One imagines that this was the height of at-home entertainment at the time.) Moreover, the tranverse sections were so strong that they could also be used as business and greeting cards. For just 10 cents ($1.00 today), customers could buy individual wooden cards to use for whatever purpose they wished. Hough’s innovation in veneer-cutting proved a massive commercial success. Fortunately for the world of book collecting, Hough was not prepared to stop there. from Romeyn Hough’s American Woods [Bauman Rare Books]
One of the Bauman Rare Books Blog's Weird and Wonderful series
One of the Bauman Rare Books Blog's Weird and Wonderful series
Oh wow. The library at my workplace has a copy; I should schedule a time to go see it!
posted by sciencegeek at 3:53 PM on October 15 [1 favorite]
posted by sciencegeek at 3:53 PM on October 15 [1 favorite]
It's worth the effort to see an example in person - check Worldcat for "copies" near you.
posted by Glomar response at 4:18 PM on October 15 [1 favorite]
posted by Glomar response at 4:18 PM on October 15 [1 favorite]
While I have never been lucky enough to see any of the original copies in person, they came out with a photo reproduction back in 2002, which I was lucky enough to run across a discussion of in time to grab a copy. (The original seems to be out of print, but it looks like there have been a bunch of reprints with a different cover more recentlu)
I'm sure it's not even close to the original, but since the nearest actual copy is apparently 170 miles away from me, the photo version is also pretty gorgeous to look through, and has the advantage of living right on the bookshelf.
posted by Dorothea Ladislaw at 6:37 PM on October 15 [1 favorite]
I'm sure it's not even close to the original, but since the nearest actual copy is apparently 170 miles away from me, the photo version is also pretty gorgeous to look through, and has the advantage of living right on the bookshelf.
posted by Dorothea Ladislaw at 6:37 PM on October 15 [1 favorite]
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posted by Thorzdad at 1:48 PM on October 15 [4 favorites]