Woodlore by Cameron Miller illustrated by Dominique Falla

I picked this book up in a library a couple of weeks ago from their discard pile. You will want to linger over the endpapers - they are so detailed. The illustrations for this book were done on plywood primed with Gesso, using water soluble pencils and each illustration is framed with actual wood which is described in the text and other timbers are used for inlay work and decoration.

"Yew trees, grown throughout the ages, have the wood the bowyer favours."

I do remember when this book was on the CBCA shortlist back in 1995 and at that time many of us decided not to purchase it because the topic was quite niche and the book was very expensive at the time. I see from this library copy it cost AUS$20 which seems okay now. The bowyer, from the quote above, is a man making a longbow.

Here are some other text quotes:

"Maple and Spruce are always kings for the makers of lutes and violins. ... Alder wood is cut into logs, seasoned, taped, and carved into clogs. ... Blackwood and Box are hard and dense to make sweet woodwind instruments."

My favourite illustrations are of the rocking horse and the draft horse pulling the cart loaded with barrels made by the cooper. And the back notes are very detailed and add a good layer of richness to the text. The woods yew, maple, spruce, beech, alder, mahogany, blackwood, box, ash, walnut, cherry, teak, yellow pine, oak, camphorwood and willow. And there are new words to learn such as wane, spindles, cabinetmakers, lathe, felloes (curved parts of a wheel), trenails (used in shipbuilding), and bodgers (they made legs and spindles for Windsor chairs). Do you remember sharing this book with groups of students in your library?

In 1995 Kirkus said: An elegant and informative book about the art of woodworking, the varieties of wood, and their traditional uses. Falla's detailed, historically accurate illustrations show busy woodworkers in various settings—in interiors and exteriors, from the 14th to the 19th centuries, from Europe to China and the U.S.—in scenes of the finished products in use. Each of these is tastefully framed with the type of wood depicted in it. The entire assemblage— picture and ornate frame—is photographed; the result is a series of icon-like compositions, each one devoted to a particular type of wood and its function. The rhymes about each type of wood—yew for longbows, maple and spruce for lutes and violins, beach for chairs, teak for decks of ship—that are printed beneath each frame are rather mediocre, but the detailed explanatory notes at the end of the book are a pleasure to read. These are full of historical information and descriptions of how the objects in the pictures are made. An original conception, masterfully realized.

And The School Library Journal said this, which might explain why I didn't buy this book for my school library:

Yew trees,/grown throughout the ages,/have the wood/the bowyer favors." In 13 double-page spreads of such rhymed couplets and an additional three pages of text at the end, this unusual book provides historical perspectives and description of the special qualities and uses of 16 particular woods. Resembling stained-glass windows with wood grain, Falla's luminous illustrations are done on plywood primed with Gesso, using aquarelles (water-soluble pencils). Miller framed each picture with the wood described in the text and "used a variety of other timbers for the inlay work and decorations." Turning each page, one expects to feel wood, not paper. Parchmentlike endpapers feature sketches of the trees, woodworking tools, and products shown throughout. Vocabulary such as "bodgers" (itinerant wood-turners) and "falloes" (curved section of a wheel rim) are used in the couplets and explained in the textual notes at the end. The volume is slim, beautiful, and represents untold hours of exceptional craftsmanship. Unfortunately, its primary appeal may be to an adult woodworker, especially one with an interest in history. While this title could possibly be used to support an interdisciplinary approach integrating subjects such as industrial technology, social studies, art, and English, it seems more likely to languish on the shelves of an elementary school library.