Books!

[bmwrd0]

One of the things I always look for when out and about, are older books on technical subjects; woodworking, HVAC, Welding, etc. And I have found quite a few to add to my book collection. And it is a nice way to tie together two of my passions, working with my hands and working with my mind.

So, without further ado, here are some of the highlights of my collection.


The Diesel book is from 1936, tuning is from '74.


The Airplane Welding book is from '29 and Electric Motor repair is from the fifties, and is still the best book on the subject.


The classic South Bend lathe handbook, along with a nice treatise on using dynamite.


The Early Motorcycle manual is not that old, the seventies, but finding anything that talks about these old machines is quite difficult. The machining book is from the teens, and the electroplating is from 1941.


These are all from the fifties.


These are both from the twenties I believe, as the axe manual isn't dated.


The motor book is from the '80s, while the metrology book is wartime.


Aircraft repair is from the thirties, while the radio-TV is from the fifties.


Of course, we need some tool catalogs from the teens and twenties.


And some early books on transportation repair.


Teach yourself how to fly!


Some wartime books on HVAC repair.


Gunsmithing books from the '30s-'40s


And finally, some nautical-themed books. They are from the '20s, 40s, and '50s respectively.

And that is only a representative sample, from just going through the shelves upstairs. There are many actual working books in my shop and a few on my bookshelves on the first floor.

 

[Provincial]

The Victor Page' motorcycle book is undoubtedly a retitled reprint. Mr. Page' wrote books about popular interests, mostly vehicles, that were popular in the 1920's and 30's. The Clymer Press republished several in the sixties and seventies.

Aircraft Engine Maintenance was one of a pair of basic textbooks for aircraft mechanics in the WWII era. The mate was Aircraft Maintenance, also by Brimm and Boggess.
Nice collection!

 

[Chris705]

I love the old books! So much fundamental information in them! For those also in the hunt for these books and others, there is a web search engine for hundreds of used book stores called..... Abebooks.com It has helped me track down several technical references !!

Happy hunting!

 

[leg17]

It's sad that in the age of the 'interwebs' people won't know the pure joy of digging through these treasures.
I'm a kindred spirit. Got a more than a hundred old books on mechanics, machining and tooling, and related stuff.
GREAT SELECTION.

 

[doctordirt]

Nice collection. I have two of the books you posted in my library.

 

[bmwrd0]

Nice collection. I have two of the books you posted in my library.

Great, which two? Any pictures?

 

[ttpete]

Those Samworth gun books can be worth a sizeable amount, especially if they have dust jackets in good condition. Try looking them up on Amazon, Abebooks, or Bookfinder. You might be surprised.

 

[bmwrd0]

So, in case anyone didn't know, as sites like ABE and Bookfinder keep popping up in the comments, I started my working days in a used bookstore, doing everything from shelving titles as they came in, to building the bookshelves and laying linoleum.

I am very familiar with the used book sites, such as ABE and Bookfinder, as I spent many working hours uploading titles for sale onto the platforms. But my favorite part of all of this is stumbling onto the titles at garage sales, flea markets, estate sales, and so on. Some books I'll flip, some I keep.

But, if anyone else has some books that they are proud of and want to show, please enter them in the thread. The more the merrier.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

I always find it rather sad there is very few books published of this type any more.

 

[bmwrd0]

I always find it rather sad there is very few books published of this type any more.

YouTube has taken over. And yes, it is rather sad. But then again, I get to watch a whole series of a guy building a 42' wooden boat, step by step.

 

[JoCoSawdust]

Nice! I'm a sucker for old automotive and machine books at the yard sales and fleas. I believe that green covered electric motor repair book is the same one I have. If so, I agree, best book out there on the topic. I like how it opens flat, with the text on one side and all of the photos and diagrams on the other. Very handy in the shop. I'll have to snap some pics of some tomorrow.

 

[bmwrd0]

Yep JoCo, that is the one!

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

YouTube has taken over. And yes, it is rather sad. But then again, I get to watch a whole series of a guy building a 42' wooden boat, step by step.

Unfortunately the YouTube videos tend (obviously not all of them) to be very shallow in their overall coverage of a topic, particularly when it comes to the technical aspects. You rarely have any idea what standards they are using and they are more useful as a tutorial than a reference.

 

[Isaiah6113]

The Airplane Welding book is from '29 and Electric Motor repair is from the fifties, and is still the best book on the subject.

Rosenberg’s Electric Motor Repair is outstanding!

Matthew A.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[c1504]

It might be a stretch to call this a technical subject but this is one of the coolest books I have. The Complete Practical Distiller 1853

 

[Roberts210]

Wow. Outstanding collection of books. Makes me book-hungry just looking at the pictures.

 

[bmwrd0]

It might be a stretch to call this a technical subject but this is one of the coolest books I have. The Complete Practical Distiller 1853

Oh, that is nice. I might need to keep an eye out for a copy to give to my wife.

 

[Modern Garage]

I love old technical and reference manuals. Comes from a childhood of reading the encyclopedia set for entertainment I guess.
Here are a couple of mine. The Stanley is 1952, Your Dream Home copyright 1955, the Audel's series was originally copyrighted 1925 and this edition is dated 1945.
I have a few others I'll get pics of later.
Joe

 

[humber2]

I have most editions of Dykes cyclopedias from 1918 but few have the dust jacket.

The last I suspect is the 22nd Edn put out during WW2

There is a Dykes Airplane version and Carburettor books too.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

Interesting collection bmw. I like it! A lot!

 

[Copymutt]

X2 on the Audel’s books.
The machinists & Tool Maker’s Handy Book takes you through the math, calculation, the machines, jigs & fixtures, blue pint reading & mechanical drawing. Bonus for me, it belonged to my grandfather.

 

[WisJim]

I accumulate books of many genres, gardening and fruit growing, steam power and railroads, machine shop and wood working, motorcycles and cars, old mysteries and science fiction. I have a copy of the green spiral bound motor book that I found in the 1970s when starting to refurbish my first antique wind generator. I'll get some pictures when I get home.

 

[four.cycle]

a few recent acquisitions:

 

[four.cycle]

 

[four.cycle]

bmwrd0- after our exchange yesterday, I felt it only appropriate to also include these, which were recently gifted to me:



I still clearly remember buying issue No. 1 when it was first released at a drug store we stopped at on our way to the ocean on a clam-digging trip.

My mother was not impressed.

 

[ooba tooba]

I also love leafing through informative books on my favorite subjects like tools, and early transportation, early scientific and navigational instruments. A few of my favorite selections.

 

[ooba tooba]

A few more

 

[ooba tooba]

Looking forward to trying my hand at some wine making.

 

[bonneyman]

I love old books! Especially reference books. I tend to focus on science, mechanics, refrigeration, first aid, food nutrition, and medicinal's.

 

[bargainhuntingking]

Found on the shelf at a local used bookstore, could not resist:

BMW, fine selection presented in your first post!

 

[bmwrd0]

Thanks! And those Audels are great, especially if you have older things to work on. My house is from 1913, and nothing in it that is original to the place is available off the shelf. Or was done in the same way as things are now done. I look at references like those books, and I can get a very good sense of how something was done behind the plaster, so to speak.

 

[d42jeep]

Okay, here are some. There are some I haven’t located so far. Check out Chapter 40.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

A few more. I’ll add the rest when I locate them.
-Don

 

[bmwrd0]

An interesting and themed selection, Don. Very nice. And I see what you mean about chapter 40!

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks. I may dig out some Corvair books just for you. I found some of the missing books.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Check out Chapter 40.

And I see what you mean about chapter 40!

That guy is a hack!

 

[toolchaser]

BMW, another good one to look for is " The design & tuning of competition engines" by Philip H. Smith

 

[toolchaser]

Funny, I just picked up part 2 of " Machine Tool Operation" @ the Salvation Army store last week!

 

[c1504]

I was flipping through a 1938 popular mechanics tonight spotted this. I had never even heard of Audels before this thread

 

[bmwrd0]

Audels is good stuff! Keep an eye out for it, as it is not too uncommon you will find some pretty quick.

I was going through some of my shop books, trying to figure out the best way to do something on the lathe, so I pulled a bunch that I keep down there:


An old Catapiller parts book, couldn't leave it at the last day of an estate sale even though I do not own a CAT. And a very early Stanley catalog, not sure of the date.


These are English, from just before the war. Engineering shop is their term for a machine shop.


Some Delta manuals from the '30s.


And the lathe books I had originally gone to look at. The Machinerys Handbook was my grandfather's, so it holds a special place for me.