AMERICANA
 Joe Katra Jr. spent more than twenty years tracking down and examining many of the timepieces and clocks made by the artisans featured in this book. He provides biographical sketches and information about individul timepieces for a comprehensive survey of the clockmakers art in the state of Maine during the ear of production of handcrafted clocks and timepieces. Paperback 154 Pages $32.50 |  This book celebrates the preservation of seventeen brightly painted banners that were carried by members of the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association in an 1841 Portland parade. In 2010 these proud emblems of the nineteenth century working class were threatened with dispersal to private collections and out-of-state institutions. Maine's cultural community came to the rescue by purchasing them at auction and placing them at the Maine Historical Society. Each color image of the banner is accompanied with a history of the trade it represents as well as historic photos, prints, or other related documents. Historical background on the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association, the Portland banner parade of 1841, Portland's merchantile ecomony in the 1820s, and a history of Mechanic Associations in New England are also included. Paperback. 59 pgs. $19.95 |
 Every day stories from American history that are not true are repeated in museums and classrooms across the country. Some are outright fabrications; others contain a kernel of truth that has been embellished over the years. Collaborating with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Mary Miley Theobald has uncovered the truth behind many widely repeated myth-understandings in our history in Death by Petticoat including:
* Hat makers really were driven mad. They were poisoned by the mercury used in making hats from furs. Their symptoms included hallucinations, tremors, and twitching, which looked like insanity to people of the 17th and 18th centuries--and the phrase "mad as a hatter" came about. * The idea that portrait painters gave discounts if their subjects posed with one hand inside the vest (so they didn't have to paint fingers and leading to the saying that something "costs an arm and a leg") is strictly myth. It isn't likely that Napoleon, King George III, or George Washington were concerned about getting a discount from their portrait painters. Pregnant women secluded themselves indoors, uneven stairs were made to trip up burglars, people bathed once a year, women had tiny waists, apprenticeships lasted seven years--Death by Petticoat reveals the truth about these hysterical historical myth-understandings. Paperback 144 pages $14.99 |  Combining two of Eric Sloane's popular little etiquette guides, this hardcover collection offers cozy, homespun advice that recalls a kindly, less hectic time. Culled from early American almanacs and diaries, hundreds of brief reflections cover proper behavior for "At the Table" and "In Dress and Habits" as well as tips on carpentry, housework, weather, and more. 144 Hardcover $12.95 |
 Absorbing book describes, in detail, farm tools and kitchen implements and how they were made. Includes devices used by curriers, wheelwrights, coopers, blacksmiths, loggers, tanners, coachmakers, and other craftsmen of the pre-industrial age. An informal, expressively written book for cultural historians, woodcrafters, and Americana enthusiasts. 184 black-and-white illustrations. 128 Pgs Paperback $11.95 |  Updated in 2008,this is a compilation of toolmakers working in Maine and the Province of Maine prior to 1900. Including information on the Robert Merchant Wantage Rule, Berwick, Maine, 1720, the oldest signed and dated measuring tool made in Maine. Also early Maine planemkers Joseph Metcalf and Thomas Waterman. 271 pgs. paperback. $24.95 |
 A lavishly illustrated biography of itinerant engraver Richard Brunton-sometime soldier, artist, forger-that provides a unique window into the life of an artisan in America's early republic. Color plates throughout. Paperback. 123 pgs. $19.95 |  In this moving account, Korn explores the nature and rewards of creative practice. Though not a "how-to" book in any sense, Korn wants to get at the why of craft in particular and the satisfaction of creative work in general, to understand their essential nature. Paperback. 179 pgs. $19.95 |
