The Forgotten Art of Building A Good Fireplace [Paperback]

Vrest Orton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 2005

Since its original publication in 1969 by Yankee, Inc.,Vrest Orton’s classic book on fireplace design has gone through numerous printings and has brought about a revival of the Rumford fireplace. The basic principles that Count Rumford set forth in 1795 describe the construction of a large shallow fireplace which does not smoke and which throws out much more heat than many of today’s fireplaces which send too much of the heat up the chimney. This new edition contains some practical notes by Wally Leeds, a mason in Tunbridge,Vermont who builds Rumford fireplaces today.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Vrest Orton loved the five fireplaces in his 1828 Federal brick house in Weston, Vermont because of their architectural beauty and because of the enormous amount of heat they produced without letting smoke into the rooms. In his quest to understand why his old fireplaces worked so much better than most "modern" versions, Orton discovered the work of Count Rumford, the eighteenth-century genius who brought fireplace design to an unprecedented level of efficiency.

Born Benjamin Thompson in Woburn, Massachusetts in 1753, Rumford was a Tory during the American Revolution, and he emigrated to Britain. While in Britain, he applied himself to the study and improvement of smoky fireplaces, and had so much success that his fame spread to Europe. In Bavaria, his contributions to society were so appreciated that he was ennobled as "Count of the Holy Roman Empire" by the Elector of Bavaria. He took the name "Rumford" from the old name for Concord, New Hampshire.

In this book, Vrest Orton recounts the fascinating story of Count Rumford. He then goes on to spell out Rumford's basic principals of fireplace design with the help of drawings by Austin Stevens. Since its original publication in 1969, this book has gone through numerous printings and has brought about a revival of the Rumford fireplace.

Vrest Orton served in France during World War I, had a distinguished career in book and magazine publishing for twenty years, and then moved back to Vermont after Pentagon service following World War II to found the Vermont Country Store, which issues one of America's most trusted and popular mail-order catalogs.

This new edition included some notes and clarification by Wally Leeds, a mason in Tunbridge, Vermont who had built many Rumford fireplaces. In addition, there is a preface by Lyman Orton, son of Vrest Orton.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: "Hood, Alan C. & Company, Inc." (March 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0911469176
• ISBN-13: 978-0911469172
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > How-to & Home Improvements > Masonry

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Building a Rumford fireplace, March 21, 2006

By 

Carl Sacherich (New Castle, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Forgotten Art of Building A Good Fireplace (Paperback)

When I was building my first home in 1972, I stumbled upon Orton's little book in the Library. I had never built a fireplace before, although I did have a little bit of experience laying block and brick. But Orton inspired me. I knew that I couldn't afford to have a fireplace of my own unless I built it myself. Long story short: I built my Rumford fireplace all by myself, from footer to top of the chimney, using this book as my only guide. And it worked wonderfully. It was unbelievably efficient and smoke free. My kids and I spent many winter evenings "camping out" there in our family room, with the electric baseboard heat turned off. I once built a fire on the front-most edge of the brick hearth (with several fire extinguishers at my side), just to see if this design could really "draw" as well as Orton claimed. It DID! And without any smoke in the room!
This book "clicked" with me for 2 reasons: first he laid out the history behind this invention, the biography of Count Rumford, and WHY this design was so revolutionary. Then he carefully laid out the principles of WHY IT WORKS, the theory and proportions. It was not a heady treatise for engineers, nor did it insult my intelligence with details on "inserting tab A into slot A" as most do-it-yourself books do.
I'm now building my second home -- this one with TWO Rumford fireplaces. And I decided that its high time that I had my own personal copy of this book!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Count, March 19, 2006

By 

Chris Hedrick "Chris" (CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Forgotten Art of Building A Good Fireplace (Paperback)

If you are building a firplace this is the book about the man of all men. This simple how to works. This isn't like a Sunset book that has pictures of all steps but it is kept simple. If you supplement this with the Rumford and get their step by step instructions off of their website then this will be simple for most fairly talented home do it your selfers. The end result works and makes since. The products from the web site are hard to get and are costly but they make it so simple to build that you will be surprised and happy. This book is tiny and about a one hour read. A lot of this book is on the history and how the science of Rumford is applied. The shallow box is the way to build a fireplace right . Good Luck

23 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful, But Only if Your Architect or Builder Reads It, Too, November 17, 2001

By 

Imperial Topaz (Marrakesh, Morocco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Forgotten Art of Building A Good Fireplace (Paperback)

I am an American, living overseas, in Africa, and am in the process of designing my own home. The building standards here are far lower than the standards in America, and I'm looking to educate myself before hiring an architect.

This book is the product of an interested layman's research, based on his own interest in finding out why some older, very unusual-looking fireplaces (by modern standards) seem to produce better, non-smoky fires than the modern fireplaces built in this century. The author researched the historical documents and designs left by the famous early-American fireplace builder Count Rumford. He shows us through explanations and diagrams the principles of Count Rumford's designs, and he does explain these principles clearly.

I have two criticisms of the book. The first is that he spent the first 35 pages talking about Count Rumford and his life (obviously of great personal interest to the author, and of less interest to me). He spent only the last 20 or so pages specifically on the principles of fireplace design. Secondly, as a layperson, he has had to include in the book a disclaimer for the information. Therefore, this book is useful, but your architect or builder would have to read through it (it's short, and could be done) and pass his judgement upon the principles. Therefore, I don't know if the book will be that useful to me here in Africa, as I am in a French-speaking country. The book could have been greatly improved just by the addition of some comments by various architects added to it, in a separate section.