History: Craft Knowledge First in Print

I've just been given the link to a very interesting site, and i'd like to pass it on. (Thanks Kari)

[url]http://www.toolemera.com/[/url]

This site, dedicated to old books and literature, features reprints of a very old book by Joseph Moxon on trades methods. It is considered by the site host to be the first printed book on trades skills, something we now take for granted. In 1703 there would be no benches in home Depot where one might have trade knowledge passed on for free. and that would be for a very good reason. Prior to the Great Fire of London, 1666, which wiped out a great deal of the city of London, skilled trades and their knowledge were strictly controlled by individual guilds, now known as unions.

For centuries before, all through Europe novices would be sworn to secrecy, because what a tradesman knows is his livelihood, how he makes his living. An early mason would make his own tools (read "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett) but his knowledge was his bread and butter. I believe that this was also true many centuries before, because the use of craft terms in the Bible alluded to "craftiness, sleight of hand, hidden knowledge" suggesting that one's knowledge wasn't shared with others.

In this way, guilds kept tight control, and if a job needed to be done or a building constructed, the guild supplied the master builders, labourers, carpenters and masons to get the job done and contend for fair wages for the tradespeople.

The great fire of London, however, changed that forever, as there were not enough trained workers available, and once the doors were opened, they were not shut again, as the newly trained cohorts went back into the countryside after the rebuilding had been done. Joseph Moxon was a very interesting character; as the free portion of the reprint of his book tells, a prolific author and the first tradesman allowed into the Royal Scientific Society". I hope I've piqued your interest! It's good to remember what life was like. Dave