A Manual of Engineering Drawing for Students and Draftsmen

by Thomas Ewing French

Excerpt from A Manual of Engineering Drawing for Students and Draftsmen

Different courses have been designed for different purposes, and criticism is not intended, but it would seem that better unity of method might result if there were a better recognition of the conception that drawing is a real language, to be studied and taught in the same way as any other language. With this conception it may be seen that except for the practice in the handling and use of instruments, and for showing certain stand ards of execution, copying drawings does little more in the study as an art of expression of thought than copying paragraphs from a German book would do in beginning the study of the German language. And it would appear equally true that good pedagogy would not advise taking up composition in a new language before the simple structure of the sentence is understood and appreciated; that is, working drawings would not be considered until after the theory of projection has been explained.

305 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1929

Reviews

[Rossdavidh · Rating 4 out of 5]

My copy of this book was the first edition (ninth impression), from 1911. Reading it over 100 years after it was written, I am not surprisingly not the author's intended audience. There may be fields where the author has in mind a readership in future centuries, but Thomas French was unlikely to have had a 21st century reader in mind when discussing, say, the use of compasses.

It is a fair question as to what possible merit there could be for me in reading such a book. I have no excuse to give. It was, however, quite pleasant to do so. The language is dated, but precise, and the various illustrations of, say, the proper way to hold a pen when doing proper lettering, were (unsurprisingly given the topic) well done.

There is, to be sure, something impressive in seeing the evidence in this book of a previous generation's ability to focus relentlessly on the task at hand, given our own current inability to focus for more than 10 seconds on anything at all. Reading this book had a calming and focusing affect on me, too, although I cannot claim to be able, as a result of reading it, to execute in a proper manner any of the techniques described. If I were to have the book at hand when attempting it, though, I believe I would find it sufficiently clear to be a great help.

I suppose that, more than anything else, that was why I read this book: to get a glimpse into what a professional engineer's work life might have consisted of in a time before smartphones, internet distractions, email, Slack channels, and myriad other ways to keep yourself from the task at hand. Much as gardening is not, for me, primarily a way to acquire food, but mostly rather a way to remind myself (at conscious and subconscious levels) of how we came to have food, this book was for me a way to disconnect from my current way of life and connect instead (however tenuously) to an older one.

[Andrew Volpe]

Acquired from my High School Drafting class, 1996

1966 Edition, originally 1911.

One of my "oldest" books, one that I have had for a long time.