Book of Old-Time Trades and Tools
Review by Sandra Merville Hart
This book is a republication of the book originally published in 1866 by George Routledge and Sons, London. The original title was The Boy’s Book of Trades and the Tools Used in Them.
This nonfiction book is a treasure for historical writers!
The author gives an overview of different trades in some cases and detail in others. The anonymous author shows how there is overlapping of skills between certain professions, which is interesting.
There are sketches of men at work, showing what one might have expected to find at a worksite in 1866. Sketches of tools used in a specific trade show what the skilled worker used but doesn’t always inform the reader how they were used. It’s still helpful to see the tool and its name.
Skilled labors like brickmaking, masonry, plastering, whitewashing, and plumbing are a few of the trades highlighted.
I purchased this book for research purposes. I used it as a reference in my Spies of the Civil War Series. Books 4 – 6 are set in Vicksburg during the Civil War. One of the characters in Streams of Courage, Book 4, is a saddler. Sketches of tools used were especially helpful in understanding what saddlers did all day.
Recommended for historical authors and those interested in history.
