We are announcing one Issue Five article each weekday until pre-orders open on Wednesday, August 1st. If you don’t already have a subscription and just wanted to order a copy of Issue Five by itself, you may do so on August 1st.
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Tradespeople have been admired, depicted in paintings, remembered in song, and hilariously lampooned in popular writing for centuries. Every village had a joiner, a carpenter, various wrights, smiths, and weavers, and English literature from the past half-millennium is rife with references to these workers and their trades - some glowing in admiration, some tellingly unflattering. In M&T Issue Five, author Megan Fitzpatrick invites us to dust off our library and explore some of the unique contributions that the woodworking trades have made to classic compositions.
Taking a lighthearted look through such works as Robinson Crusoe (perhaps the first English upcycler, she notes) and Adam Bede, getting to know the inept "rude mechanicals" of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and exploring the vise-bench lashed in the hold of Ahab's whaling ship in Moby Dick, Megan gives us an enjoyable foray through the pages of history. You might be inspired to shoulder your Adys (adze), grab a Chesyll (chisel), and follow the old carpenter's lead in quaffing some ale before getting to work, but Megan cautions: "Control yourself – the tools don’t approve of drunk carpenters."
The last Issue Five article announcement comes tomorrow (Tuesday) followed by pre-orders opening on Wednesday!