The Artist & Tradesman's Guide. Embracing some Leading Facts & Principles of Science, and a Variety of Matter Adapted to the Wants of the Artist, Mechanic, Manufacturer and Mercantile Community
Utica: Printed by William Williams, 1827. Small 4to. 225 x 140 mm., (9 x 5 1/2 inches). 216 pp. Original blue boards, white cloth spine; cloth spine worn, remnants of paper label visible yet binding is sound. Text browned throughout; page 129 torn at inner margin without loss, signature z with heavy staining to inner margin, with some minor loss of text. Bookplate removed.
First edition. Shepard's Artist and Tradesman's Guide is filled with information on the useful arts, including using chemistry to create all kinds of receipts for soaps, dyes, brewing, distillation, wine making and syrups. As a jack of all trades, Shepard includes information on painting, making paints, cosmetics, salts and powders and other medicinal productions. His essay on the arts of printing, engraving and etching are informative as are his methods for gilding and using silver as a decorative element when working with glass. What is missing is any tips on home building, woodworking, cabinet making, and plumbing. As an appendix to his work, Shepard includes information on transportation cost and custom house tariffs on all sorts of good either imported or manufactured locally.
With faults an interesting provincial imprint that demonstrated the economic drive which characterized the development of the City of Utica, recently exposed to new markets because of the opening of the Erie Canal in 1823.
Rink 213. American Imprints 30585. OCLC cites numerous copies in American libraries. (375). Item #375
Price: $325.00