Books on Ornamental Turning

Books with limited information on ornamental turning

For those who just can't get enough of a good thing, these books have limited information on ornamental turning, usually secondary to their primary subject focus, such as woodturning, woodworking, jewelry, box making, and others. Presented in reverse chronological order by date of first publication.

• Woodturning in North America Since 1930, Wood Turning Center and Yale University Art Gallery, 2001. Pages 128-130 discuss ornamental turning and feature the work of Dale Chase and Jon Sauer. This survey exhibition and publication of modern American woodturning, a joint venture of the Wood Turning Center and the Yale University Art Gallery, contains full color images of the objects from the exhibit; descriptions of the artists work, processes, and inspirations; essays on the history of turning, focused on the last 100 years; and technical descriptions of working with wood as a material.
• Fabergé – The Forbes Collection, by Christopher Forbes and Robyn Tromeur-Brenner, 1999. 296 pages. Extra large cloth-bound hardcover with inlaid photos. Includes royal genealogy from 1818 to present.
• The Art of Fine Tools, Sandor Nagyszalanczy, Taunton Press, 1998. 232 pages, all in full-color. Four pages dedicated to Holtzapffel ornamental lathe and Armbruster rose engine lathe. View on Google Books | Purchase from Amazon.
• Scent and Elegant Flacons, by Heiner Meininghaus. 1998 Hardcover. German and English.160 pages, 330 illustrations (318 in color). Perfume receptacles from the Middle Ages onward, some with engine turning. Purchase from Amazon
• Daniel Brush: Gold Without Boundaries, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998. 175 full color photographs of artist's work plus duo tone photographs of Brush's studio, containing various ornamental and rose engine lathes. Purchase from Amazon
• Bill Jones' Further Notes from the Turning Shop, by Bill Jones, East Susex: Guild of Master Craftsman Publications, 1997.
• Bill Jones' Notes from the Turning Shop, by Bill Jones, East Susex: Guild of Master Craftsman Publications, 1996.
• Fabergé in America, Thames & Hudson, Inc, New York, 1996. Published on the occasion of the exhibition "Fabergé in America" which was organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA. Purchase from Amazon
• The Art of Fabergé, by John Booth, Quantum Books, 1990. Hardcover, 192 pgs. Large full-color picture book with 200 illustrations. Includes photos of the workshops and biographies of more than two dozen workmasters, along with a full history of the establishment of the firm. Purchase from Amazon
• Horological & Other Shop Tools 1700 to 1900, by Dr. Theodore R. Crom. 9” x 12”. Published 1987.  Buckram hard cover. casebound, archival heavy coated paper, 388 pages, approximately 760 illustrations, many in color; reprints of 32 page 1855 English hardware catalogue; 80 plate 1860 Swiss tool and material catalogue; 1867 Austrian woodworking tool catalogue in color; 48 page 1880 American tool and material catalogue; classification of 18th century thumb screws for dating tools and instruments; 30 pages of ornamental turning and damaskeening equipment. Purchase
• Woodturner's Handbook, by Frank W. Coggins, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 1985. Soft Cover. 9-¾" - 12", 204 pages. Illustrated how-to book on woodworking, with a variety of practical and useful turned wood objects. Contains a chapter on the "Art of Ornamental Turning with a Holtzapffel Lathe". (ISBN-10: 0830617698 ISBN-13: 9780830617692)
• Micro-computer Art, R. Edwards, 1985.
• The Woodturner's Companion, by Ron Roszkiewicz. New York: Sterling Pub., Co., 1984. Paperback, 253 pages, diagrams and half tone photo ills. throughout, large format (10 x 8 inches approx.), A chapter on woodturning tradition details a brief history of OT, including photos of lathes, tools, and turned objects.
• The Lathe Book: A Complete Guide to the Machine and Its Accessories, by Ernie Conover, 2001. The Taunton Press. Pages 106-110 are dedicated to ornamental turning. View on Google Books
• Early Machine Tools (Science Museum) K. R. Gilbert, 1975.
• Polychromatic Assembly for Wood Turning, E. E. & C. Brown, 1973.
• Treen, or Small Woodware throughout the Ages, Edward H. Pinto, 1969.
• Treen and Other Wooden Bygones, Edward H. Pinto, 1969.
• A History of Technology & Invention - Progress Through the Ages, Volume II, The First Stages of Mechanization, by Maurice Daumas, English translation by Eileen Henessy, Crown Publishers, New York, 1969. Originally published as Historie Generales des Techniques, 1964, Presses Universitaires de France. Includes lathes for glasswork, screw cutting and early jewellers/watchmakers lathes beginning in the 15th and 16th centuries.
• History of the Lathe to 1850, by Robert Woodbury. Society for the History of Technology. Cleveland, Ohio, 1961.
• History of the Lathe to 1850, R. S. Woodbury 1961.
• Handbuch Der Gravierkunst, by Von Curt Streubel, 1957. In German.
• Handbuch der Drechslerie, by Hugo Knoppe. In German.
• Lathe Work, P. N. Hasluck.
• L'Objet d'Art d'un Tourneur Virtuose, Anon.
• Early machine Tools, Gilbert.
• Der Dreschsler der Neuzeit (The Modern Turner), Graef.
• Pour le Tourneur, by A. LeFevre.
• A Short History of Machine Tools 1700-1910, Steeds.
• Wiener Silber, 1780-1866, by Neuwirth. Includes details and work of guilloché machines.
• British Empire Hardwoods, From the point of View of Turnery, by A.L. Hetherington, with a forward by Major J.G. Holtzapffel Budd. Published by H.M. Stationary Office, London, 1931. Includes b/w photo of Holtzapffel ornamental lathe.
• Pour L'Artisan des Bois, by A. Sthegnes, 1927
• The Worshipful Company of Turners of London, A. C. Stanley-Stone, 1925.
• Possibilities of Small Lathes, James Lukin, 1905.
• Simple Decorative Lathe Work, James Lukin, 1904.
• A Manual of Wood Carving, by Charles G. Leland, and revised by John J. Holtzapffel, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1897. 162 pages. Numerous black and whites plates, profusely illustrated with printpress examples of tools and designs.
• Nouvelle manuel Complet de Tourner, by E. deVallicourt, 1896. In French.
• Victorian Woodturnings and Woodwork: The 1893 Blumer and Kuhn Catalog of Premium Millwork, By Blumer and Kuhn Stair Co. Numerous illustrations of stairs, stair railings etc. This 1893 catalog provides nearly 800 detailed illustrations of stair railings, balusters, newel posts, spindles, mantels, rosettes, plinth and head blocks, turned porch and veranda work, gables, window hoods, ventilators, pews and pulpits, wooden ornaments, moldings, gables, moldings, and ornaments. Its various examples of woodwork make it particularly valuable, inspiring and instructive to woodturners, cabinetmakers, architects, preservationists, restorationists, designers, and students of Victoriana. 137 pages. Reprint by Dover publications available. Purchase from Amazon
• A Treatise on Lathes and Turning, Simple, Mechanical and Ornamental, W. Henry Northcott. View on Google Books
• Turning Lathes, James Lukin, 1888.
• Turning Lathes: A Manual for Technical Schools and Apprentices, Fifth ed. Colchester, England: Britannia Company, 1899. Originally published 1888.
• The Wood Turner's Handybook, P. N. Hasluck, 1887.
• Spherical Sliderest, J.H. Evans. Reprint currently available by Lost Art Publications.
• Workshop Appliances, Charles Percy B. Shelley, 1883. View on Google Books
• The Lathe and its Uses, James Lukin, 1883.
• Turning for Amateurs - A Guide to turning, screw-cutting, metal-spinning, ornamental turning, by James Lukin, 1873. A reprint of the 1894 edition is currently available from The Astragal Press.
• Practice of Hand-turning, F. Campin, 1861.
• The Handbook of Turning, M.I. Oliver-Gascoigne, 1842.
• The English Lathe, Poppe, 1820.
• Workshops of Today's Arts or the New History of Art, by Johann Samuel Halle, 1761. Leipzig. Published in six volumes. Includes excerpts from Plumier's L'Art de Tourner.