Customer Reviews

Agricultural Hand Tools (Shire Library)

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This 32 page booklet is part of a series of pocket book size texts published in England called the Shire books which cover all sorts of obsolete industrial, agricultural, and home economics topics. Thus old time one-lunger steam power engines are covered but modern post 1940 automobiles, tractors and trucks are not.
The illustrations cover many tools with a few examples each, but these booklets are far from a complete encycopedias of anything they cover. They are more memory books of the type done by Eric Sloane (cf) on American hand tools and crafts. The intent of this one is preserving the ancient hand techniques of the farmer.
What strikes one as particularly British is that no one ever seems to wear work clothing as we know it: Overalls, coveralls, dungaree shirts, etc. All the workers are wearing coats and ties even in the filthiest conditions! As I recall this is not characteristic of French peasants of the same period, 1850 to 1950. The only concession to work condition is the English favor gum boots of the pullover type when in the fields. But this is not surprising when we recall that Sherlock Holmes and other holiday trekkers in movies always wore tweed suits and ties in the woods.