Goodman's British Planemakers

Book excerpt: This new edition of the classic reference British Planemakers from 1700 has been completely rewritten, with over 200 pages of new information. Online research tools haven enabled much greater insight into family connections of planemakers, family and business continuities, and the discovery of previously unknown planemakers. Confirmation that planemakers were working in the late 1600s, in fact, inspired the new edition’s title, Goodman’s British Planemakers. The biographic directory covers more than 2400 planemakers and includes 2250 maker's mark illustrations. Like its predecessors, the new edition traces the development of British planemaking, but far more extensively, now confirming that planemakers moved around the country to a much greater extent than previously realized, and identifying several new family planemaking dynasties. The book includes chapters on the planemaking trade and its practices, descriptions and illustrations of the many types of planes and their evolution, and provincial planemaking, as well as sections on apprentice records, trade marks, and a complete index. An absolutely invaluable reference.