Comments on: Getting wood
http://www.metafilter.com/114304/Getting-wood/
Comments on MetaFilter post Getting woodWed, 28 Mar 2012 08:43:19 -0800Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:43:19 -0800en-ushttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss60Getting wood
http://www.metafilter.com/114304/Getting-wood
Romeyn Hough's <a href="http://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/03/12/houghs-american-woods"><em>American Woods</em></a> is one of the most astonishing books of the late 19th century, <a href="http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/specialcollections/forestry/hough/index.html">a 14-volume set containing a thorough survey of the trees of the U.S.</a>, complete with thinly sliced samples of the wood of each tree. Complete sets of this mammoth undertaking are today <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/archive/200904A33.html">rare and highly prized</a>.post:www.metafilter.com,2012:site.114304Wed, 28 Mar 2012 07:19:08 -0800Horace RumpolebookswoodtreeslumberbotanytaxonomyBy: Herodios
http://www.metafilter.com/114304/Getting-wood#4264478
Amazing!
My library contains a book entitled <em><a href="http://www.lowryjames.com/cgi-bin/lowry/5002">What Wood Is That</a>?: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670759074/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/">A Manual of Wood Identification</a></em>, by Herbert L. Edlin (1969).
Nowhere near as comprehensive as Hough's work, but signifigantly cheaper, <em>What Wood. . .</em> also included a folder of (I believe) 40 wood veneer samples.
But this, this is the work of the true Victorian obsessive.
I had no idea at the time that Edlin stood on the shoulders of a giant.
comment:www.metafilter.com,2012:site.114304-4264478Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:43:19 -0800HerodiosBy: filthy light thief
http://www.metafilter.com/114304/Getting-wood#4264669
$30,000 is a very conservative estimate of the value of a copy of the complete set. <a href="http://www.istl.org/11-summer/refereed3.html"><em>American Woods</em>: Conservation of a Unique Item</a> is an article by Tierney Lyons, Reference Librarian, which notes a set sold in 2000 for $92,100 at a Christie's auction. "Interestingly, bookplates reveal that the sold piece was gifted to a Massachusetts public library ("Romeyn" 2009)."
I first wanted to comment that this is the perfect sort of thing for digitization, allowing broader access to a product of such devotion, but there's at least one element that doesn't translate to digital formats: <a href="http://www.cartermuseum.org/interact/the-n-files/nature-bound-days-6-and-7">the samples were cut thin enough be backlit</a>, which he <a href="http://www.cmnh.org/site/ResearchandCollections/Library/RareBook/rb7.aspx">spun off into a business called "Cards of Wood," which sold his thin slices of wood</a> as holiday cards, business cards, bookmarks, and so on.
Along with the very high definition scans at the New York State University Library (2nd link in the OP), <a href="http://archive.org/details/americanwoodsexh01hougrich">you can read a version of the complete boom on Archive.org</a>, where you can find <a href="http://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Hough%2C+Romeyn+Beck%2C+1857-1924%22">more scanned works from Houg</a>. Or you could be duped into buying <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=F15pygAACAAJ&dq=hough+american+woods&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Uz9zT6vEOeOeiALSzKijCw&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA">a printed copy</a> from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BiblioBazaar">BiblioBazaar</a>, re-printer of widely available digitized works that are in the public domain.comment:www.metafilter.com,2012:site.114304-4264669Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:43:12 -0800filthy light thiefBy: notyou
http://www.metafilter.com/114304/Getting-wood#4264683
In addition to What Wood...? the US Dept of Agriculture's Encyclopedia of Wood is another handy edition.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1602390576comment:www.metafilter.com,2012:site.114304-4264683Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:48:16 -0800notyouBy: away for regrooving
http://www.metafilter.com/114304/Getting-wood#4266179
And for a wood book with one level of indirection, there's the <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/Index_xylariorum_institutional_wood_coll.html?id=yYk_AAAAYAAJ">Index xylariorum: institutional wood collections of the world</a>.
For the practical purpose of finding the xylarium nearest you, <a href="http://www.kew.org/collections/wood-index/Index_Xylariorum4.htm">an online list maintained by Kew Gardens</a> will be more up-to-date. One wood-collecting enthusiast has<a href="http://www.woodcollecting.org/mudry_xylarium/">an online collection of 2100 images</a>, and I respect the effort, but I'm sure its creator would agree it's no kind of substitute for going to the xylarium yourself.comment:www.metafilter.com,2012:site.114304-4266179Thu, 29 Mar 2012 01:20:04 -0800away for regrooving
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