: I forgot to mention the obvious, since I'm familiar with these books, and as
: I stated Eric Sloan
: is a famous artist, that the the illustrations are incredibly beautiful in
: his books.

: Rob
Sloan did have a great ability to picture a tool, describe its use and put it in historical perspective. Not a technical read but a real fun one. There's an organization called the Early American Industries Association that a lot of you might like. They publish quarterly issues of The Chronicle, which has articles on everything from early plane makers to textiles and patents issued by the Stanley Tool Co..... a great variety of stuff you didn't even know you had interest in. Even found a reference to some guys named Schade who patented chucks in bit braces, but Nick tells me no relation! I think the dues are about $18 a year. Check out the web site.