Customer Reviews

The Artisan of Ipswich: Craftsmanship and Community in Colonial New England

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Tarule, himself a furniture-maker in Vermont making reproductions of 17th-century furniture, tells Thomas Dennis's story almost as if Dennis were a character in a novel. Dennis was one of the first furniture-makers in America to gain notoriety. Coming to America and settling in the Massachusetts village of Ipswich in the mid 1600s, Dennis used many of the techniques and styles found in British furniture-making of this period. Yet having to select appropriate trees from American forests, usually in consideration of village laws relating to certain kinds of trees, work with other American craftsmen, make furniture to order from nearby residents, and give it suitable embellishments for attractiveness, Dennis is seen as an originator of American woodworking and furniture-making. But in this work, Tarule is not interested in a study of furniture-making, or a history of it. The author's concern is the work and expertise Dennis put into making one oak chest. From the author's following this in detail, one learns a great deal about 17th-century furniture-making and also the regional Colonial society. For Dennis is viewed in the narrative as both a extraordinary and respected craftsman and a member of the community which supported and shaped his trade. Tarule does not simply say what kind of wood the particular chest was made of, but takes the reader right with Dennis as he goes to the nearby woods looking for a tree with suitable oak tree, keeping in mind the village's laws. "As soon as Thomas Dennis entered the Ipswich woods, he was in the New World. The forest was primordial...The sort of trees Dennis looked for are apparent in his furniture. The wood is close grained...." And so on with a discussion of different types of oak trees whose characteristics Ipswich artists knew from "forest type, slope degree and direction, dampness of the ground, soil conditions, and even genetic variation on local trees." Tarule even engages in a comparison of British forests and American forests of the period, and changes in American forests over time. Tarule weaves a fascinating narrative under the general heading of Americana of interest to diverse readers such as antique dealers, woodworkers, and American Colonial historians.

I've been looking for a book that would give me some insight not just into the ways of work but also into the life of work of a colonial-era woodworker/craftsman. This book does just that. You feel you are peering over the shoulder of this artisan as he lives his life in the society, the forest, and the workshops of early New England. Astonishing detail: and as accurate as one can expect due to the long and extensive research and personal experience of the practicing hand tool woodworker/author.

The work is comprehensive and engaging. I could not put it down. The combination of hands on insight along with textual/traditional historical studies, make it one of those few sources that one can bank on.

Don't fool yourself this is some heavy reading. It is historical, but at the same time it is a story of life as it was in New England in the 1700's. If you can take the time you will be rewarded with new information about life and woodworking in the 1700's

The author presents and interesting story of life at that time. We often complain about our life and government interference, well this story shows local government that was regulating how much wood you could cut and where you could cut it.

Getting to the personal life of Dennis and his life as a jointer. A true craftsman we see him create a chest for a customer. The book explains how he does it and why he does it a certain way. Waste not want not, is seen in his work and life, from using the wood chips from his work to start the family fire to selecting the good pieces for the front of the chest, but not wasting others not as good by puting them in the rear of the chest. (no one sees the back)

Well written and a very good book.

I enjoyed this book. The author was careful to enumerate just enough facts to support his story. The Tale of how the Laws and realities of the day meshed with the needs of the time to shape one man's life. I read the book a couple of times before I passed it on in the woodworking club. ([...])