Modern Carpentry, Vol. 2 PDF Download - 8.5 MB

Good wine, says Shakespeare, "needs no bush," which of course means that when a thing is good in itself, praise makes it no better.   So with a book, if it is good, it needs no preface to make it better.

The author of this book flatters himself that the work he has done on it, both as author and compiler, is good; therefore, from his standpoint a preface to it is somewhat a work of supererogation.  His opinion regarding the quality of the book may be questioned, but after forty years' experience as a writer of books for builders, all of which have met with success, and during that time over thirty years editor of one of the most popular building journals in America, he feels his opinion, reinforced as it is by thousands of builders and woodworkers throughout the country, should be entitled to some weight.

Be that as it may, however, this little book is sent out with a certainty that the one and a half million of men and boys who earn their living by working wood, and fashioning it for useful or ornamental purposes, will appreciate it, because of its main object, which is to lessen their labors by placing before them the quickest and most approved methods of construction.

To say more in this preface is unnecessary and a waste of time for both reader and author.

FRED T. HODGSON.