A Pictoral Guide to American Spinning Wheels by D Pennington and M Taylor

Softcover. Condition: Very Good. 1975. The Shaker Press. 1st Edition. Illustrated.

The book is, as the authors describe it, a pictorial guide. With the aid of 71 plates the reader is given a tour of American spinning wheels past and present, introduced to some early and contemporary European wheels, and acquainted with a sampling of Canadian wheels and additional spinning equipment. The journey is made particularly pleasant by the quality of the publication. A soft cover edition, the jacket, paper, typesetting, binding, and layout are excellent. The photographs of the wheels are exceptional; one fully expects to see the photographer's name, Jim Munsie, on the cover along with the authors'. Composite drawings near the front of the book are accompanied by clear labels indicating the names and parts of the traditional spinning wheel. The authors adhere to simple style/function nomenclature in their choice of a "flax" and a "wool" wheel to represent the two main classes of wheels featured in their study. Additional breakdown of wheel styles implicit in the chapter headings include double-flyer flax wheels, double-treadle double-wheel flax wheels, patent wheels, unusual wheels, Shaker wheels, and Canadian wheels.