Tuesday, May 14, 2024

The Final (I Hope) Sale to Free Up Floor Space

The Final (I Hope) Sale
to Free Up Floor Space

We're having one last sale to get our inventory under control. We have put seven books on sale from now until June 14 – some of them deeply discounted. You can see all the titles on sale here.


We don't like to put things on sale, so why do this? Last year we bought a historic warehouse in downtown Covington and have fixed it up so we have full control over our fulfillment operations. This is why we can now offer books that have been signed by authors, and it allows us to throw a wooden bookmark or sticker into your order as well.


It's also why we now ship books faster than ever.


The downside to owning a warehouse is it holds a finite number of books. We had far more books and tools than our inventory numbers suggested. So it's been a challenge to get everything into the circa 1896 building.


Two weeks ago, however, we reached a milestone. Every single product we sell is now under one roof. I can finally see how much floor space that some titles gobble up (it was surprising). This sale will make room for new books, plus books that we are sold out of. I estimate that if we can free up space for a dozen pallets or so, we should be in good shape for a long time.


The seven books now on sale are not stinkers. They are just taking up more than their fair share of space. If you aren't familiar with Lost Art Press, know that every one of our books requires years of editorial work to produce. Our books return more than twice the royalties to our authors compared to the publishing industry as a whole. And all of our books are printed in the United States using high-quality materials. These are permanent books.


"The Stick Chair Book" by Christopher Schwarz. Regular price: $47. Sale price: $29. This book represents my life's work from 1996 to present. It felt weird to put it on sale, but the book takes up tons of space in our warehouse.


"Vol. III of The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years: Joinery." Regular price: $42. Sale price $21. These Hayward books are huge in size. That's one of the reasons they are great – there is tons of information in them. But they also gobble up floor space.


"Vol. IV of The Woodworker, The Charles H. Hayward Years, The Shop & Furniture." Regular price: $44. Sale price $22. It might seem weird this book is $1 more than Vol. III, but the manufacturing price of this book went loco a couple years ago.


"Mechanic's Companion" by Peter Nicholson. Regular price: $27. Sale price: $17. This is one of our historical reprints. This book is one of the foundations of Western hand-tool woodworking. When I reordered it in 2021, I ordered way too many.


"Leave Fingerprints" by Brendan Gaffney. Regular price: $49. Sale price: $25. One of my favorite titles. Brendan did a fantastic job of demythologizing James Krenov and painting a true portrait of Krenov's incredible life. Gaffney distilled more than 150 interviews into a biography of one of the 20th century's most important woodworkers. 


"Make a Joint Stool From a Tree" by Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee. Regular price: $31. Sale price: $17. One of our earliest titles, and one of the most difficult to get to press. The book took 20 years for the authors to finish. And thanks only to the absolute doggedness of Follansbee, the book was completed. It's a great book about green woodworking, joinery and carving from two of the modern architects of green woodworking's renaissance.


"Calvin Cobb: Radio Woodworker!" by Roy Underhill. Regular price: $41. Sale price: $19. This is the world's first-ever woodworking novel with measured drawings. Another labor of love that took years of work and tons of money to complete. The book is great fun to read. And the book's manufacturing details, such as the diestamp, ridiculously expensive dust jacket and endsheets, create a book you don't see much in modern times.


Thank you for enduring this awkward time with Lost Art Press. I hope this sale helps you complete your collection of the Charles Hayward books or garners you some good gifts for the woodworkers in your life. 


Barring that, shredded book paper can give you an R-value of 3.6 when insulating your home – or warehouse.


 — Christopher Schwarz

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