Old Tool Reprint Room
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Why a checklist of reprint catalogs, manuals and guides? We stand at the edge of a new era. Electronic books are popular; print-on-demand publication is common; many newly published books will never go out of print. All the more reason to pause, take a look back, and see where we've been. The golden age of reprinted tool literature began in the early 1970s and lasted nearly four decades. It began at a time when information about antique tools and the hardware trade was hidden in attics, tucked along the rafters in the back rooms of dying hardware stores, and buried in the unprocessed collections of a handful of libraries. The small number of original publications still extant were not available to the average collector.
And so the age of the reprint began. Tool collecting clubs such the the Early Trades and Crafts Society, the Early American Industries Association (EAIA) and the Mid-West Tool Collectors Association (M-WTCA) began re-issuing hardware catalogs and tool-related literature for their members. Entrepreneurial collectors like Ken Roberts and Roger K. Smith realized there was a market for the publications and started their own reprint operations. One commercial publisher specializing in tool literature—the Astragal Press—included a number of reprints in its inventory. The author estimates the Astragal Press, the tool clubs, and the dealer/collectors reprinted 265 titles between 1970 and 2010.
The development of the Internet—with its ease of communication—the gradual appearance of high quality secondary publications (Roger K. Smith on hand planes, Tom Lamond on spoke shaves, Don Rosebrook on levels, etc.), and the increased costs of publishing have made the case for the publication of new reprints less compelling. While new paper-format reprints are unlikely to disappear any time soon, methods of publication are likely to become increasingly electronic. Much will be lost, as the physical items are a delightful, relatively inexpensive way to travel back into time.