Roman Woodworking

by Roger B. Ulrich

This book presents an authoritative and detailed survey of the art of woodworking in the ancient Roman world. Illustrated with over 200 line drawings and photographs, Roman Woodworking covers topics such as the training and guild memberships of Roman carpenters, woodworking tools and techniques, the role of timber in construction and the availability of trees, and interior woodwork and furniture making. It also includes an extensive glossary of fully defined terms.
This comprehensive book displays the accomplishment of the Roman woodworkers and their high skill and knowledge of materials and tools. Ulrich helps bring to light the importance of wooden projects and structures in Roman daily life and provides a wealth of information not only for classicists but also for those interested in the history of technology and the history of woodworking.

Genres: Woodwork

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Koen Crolla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thorough overview mostly covering carpentry rather than woodworking proper, because there's just more information out there about that, but also briefly discussing furniture.
Ulrich makes a genuine effort to map Roman tools and constructions to modern-day equivalents, which is easy in the sense that all tools they used are still in use today and very few modern tools didn't have a Roman equivalent, but definitely non-trivial in that hand woodworking is very jargon-heavy and modern communities are full of bad information. Pleasantly surprised that he pulled it off.