The Complete Woodworker by Bernard Jones, 1917
Bernard Jones was a practical mechanic as well as an editor of technical books and trade journals from the end of the 19th century through to the beginning of the 20th. He was the editor of Cassell's Workshop Series, of the journal WORK and numerous texts. All of his work was both influential and necessary texts in most amateur as well as commercial trade shops and trade schools.
in the woodworking, there are two stand outs: The Complete Woodworker and The Practical Woodworker. Practical, a four volume set recently reprinted by Lost Art Press, was originally published a few years after the success of Complete. Added to Practical was material from WORK with the intention of creating a multi volume reference set for the shop. Here is where I differ from Lost Art Press. I find Complete to be clearly focused on the necessities of hand tool woodworking. Practical, while certainly extensive, tosses in what is basically a marketing set by the publisher. My interpretation is that Jones edited Complete and with that success, Cassell wanted to profit by producing what they hoped would be a master reference. In reviewing period advertising and extant volumes in libraries, Practical, while successful, was more a presentation and manual school set than one for the independent trades. Extant Complete texts are typically signed by the owner rather than an institution.
You can buy used copies of The Complete Woodworker online for reasonable prices. There is no full pdf that I know of. On my to-do list is a high res pdf of the full Complete Woodworker. For now, here is one of my favorite excerpts on Tool Chests.
