This week, there's a great article on "The Art of Staircasing," a promising first installment on the specula of the Newtonian Telescope, and more than a few remarks on the construction of an indexing plate for elliptical turning. But I know what you really want; what all Work readers secretly crave.
That's right. It's time to get your overmantel on. Again. In Work, no single idea has been proposed more strenuously to the readers than the notion that the wall above your mantle should be covered with something. Anything.
Lots of loyal readers know this to be true, but if you're new here are a few links to previous issues laden with overmantel. Click on them all for a trip down memory lane. I dare you.
No doubt more mentions could be found by anyone willing to comb through the "SHOP" section found among the back pages of each release. It's hardly the point though. I want to know why. Please submit your theories in the comments section.
I'm willing to concede that the fixation is merely a fad of fashion, but part of me wants to psychoanalyze the Victorians a little more savagely. For instance, If you've ever heard the (confoundingly hard to attribute) yarn that Victorians would often drape and cover the shapely legs of furniture in the name of modesty, you could formulate the hypothesis that the chimney stack and hearth masonry might be in some similar need of being dressed and concealed.
Disclaimer: Articles in Work describe materials and methods that would not be considered safe or advisable today. We are not responsible for the content of these magazines, and cannot take any responsibility for anyone attempting projects or procedures described therein.
The first issue of Work was published on March 23rd, 1889. The goal of this project is to release digital copies of the individual issues starting on the same date in 2012, effectively republishing the materials 123 years to the day from their original release.
The original printing was on thin, inexpensive paper. There are many cases of uneven inking and bleed-through from the page behind. Our copies of Work come from bound library volumes of these issues and are subject to unfavorable trimming, missing covers, etc. To minimize harm to these fragile volumes, we've undertaken the task of scanning the books ourselves. We do considerable post processing of the scans to make them clear but please bear with us if a margin is clipped too close, or a few words are unreadable. We would like to thank James Vasile and Karl Fogel for their help in supplying us with a book scanner and enabling this project to get off the ground.
You are welcome to download, print, and pretty much do what you want with the scan for your own personal purposes. Feel free to post a link or a copy on your blog or website. All we ask is a link back to the original project and this blog. We are not answering requests for commercial downloads or reprinting at this time.
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