Books for sale. To order send check or money order with your name, mailing address, and order information to: Bowman Carriage, 253 S. Thompsonville Rd., Thompsonville, IL 62890.
This combined reprint of Volumes 1 and 2 of the 1892 edition of Practical Carriage Building is perhaps the most complete and accurate contemporary work on the subject. It covers in great depth, and with many illustrations, the materials and tools used, the making and repairing of wheels, the making of carriage parts and their assembly, framing and construction, axles, yokes, whiffletrees, patterns and layouts, and many other useful and fascinating subjects. All sorts of carriages are discussed: buggies, cabriolets and broughams, phaetons, rockaways, as well as sleighs and sleds, and express, delivery, and farm wagons. A definitive, easy to follow reference on this early trade that is now enjoying a well-deserved renaissance. 512 pages. Fully illustrated. 5 1/2" x 8 1/2". Soft cover. $24.95 PPD. ISBN 1-879335-50-6.
Until the early 20th century, horse drawn sleighs were essential to winter travel (and to recreation) in much of the country. Yet not much has been written on the subject. This wonderful book remedies that. It is a compilation of articles from three of the outstanding carriage journals of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and covers almost every imaginable type of sleigh: Albany (or swell-body), Portland cutter, speeding cutter, multi-passenger, box-body, trap and sporting sleighs. Canadian, rumble-seat, cabriolet, vis-a-vis, closed-body, and more. Not only are these various sleighs fully illustrated with detailed line drawings, but full descriptions are given covering dimensions, materials used, trim, and painting details. In addition, the last part of the book provides much valuable information on sleigh construction: ironing, body design, painting, and trimming. The topics are enriched with the more than 360 line drawings that are original to the articles. The reader will find this book a treasure-house of information, an invaluable sourcebook. 271 pages. 362 illustrations. 81/2" x 11". Soft cover. $29.95 PPD ISBN 1-879335-68-9.
The last half of the 19th century marked a huge transition in the manufacture of wheels--from individual wheelwrighting to industrial wheelmaking. This book is a compilation of articles on wheelmaking taken from late 19th century journals published in America for the carriage industry. The articles are divided into ten sections: the first is a long overview of wheelmaking technologies of the time, followed by sections on the dishing of wheels, hubs, spokes, felloes and rims, tires, rubber tires, patent wheels, and wheel repair. Taken together, they give the reader a full understanding of the fast-moving changes that were taking place in the wheelmaking industry. This is a fascinating book, full of detailed information valuable both to the general reader and to the practicing wheelwright. 248 pages. 9" x 12". Profusely illustrated. Soft cover. $29.95 PPD. ISBN 1-879335-73-5.
This is the classic work on coach building in all its branches, reprinted from the 1875 second edition. Included are sections on:
 | drafting, designing, and the construction of the frame and all the wooden parts; |
| smithing of the metal, the springs, platforms, axles, wheel hoops, etc., complete with detailed diagrams; |
| painting, applying designs and ornaments, varnishing, gilding, lettering, trimming; |
| other miscellaneous interesting and valuable information. |
The reader will find this a wonderful reference on an early trade that is now enjoying a strong revival. 384 pages. Fully illustrated. 6" x 9". Soft cover. $24.95 PPD. ISBN 1-879335-61-1
Today's collectors who seek instruction on painting and decorating their vehicles can do no better than to read this reprint of M.C. Hillick's book on the subject. The book, organized not unlike the structure of an apprenticeship, is divided into 16 chapters: The Shop and Its Equipment; Buying, Using, and Preserving Brushes; The Surfacing Stage of Painting; Colors; The Application of Colors to Surfaces; Painting; Lettering; Monograms; Painting and the Modern Business Wagon; Repainting and Revarnishing Vehicles; A Practical Study of Materials; Painting Cutters and Sleighs; and Facts and Formulas from the Paint Shop Diary. The book is full of beautiful ornaments, lettering and striping--all of great help to the carriage, wagon or sleigh collector/restorer. The sign painter, the graphic artist, or simply those who seek a unique and intimate insight into the aesthetics of 19th and early 20th century material culture. 180 pages. 6" x 9". Illustrated throughout. Soft bound. $17.95 PPD. ISBN 1-879335-77-8.
Working drawings were considered to be the most useful for building a horse-drawn vehicle. They were usually drawn 3/4" scale, and the best were drawn using the French or DuPont rule, showing all elevations of the vehicle on the same plane. Fashion plates, side elevation, and perspective drawings could be black and white using India ink or colored, drawn to a scale 1/2" to the foot, they could be presented to customers, so they could see how their carriage would look, used for illustrations in a company's catalog, or as a model of an idea for making up working drawings. They 23 categories of horse-drawn vehicles that are included are: brakes, broughams, buckboards, buggies, physician's coupe, rockaways, sleighs, surreys, and park phaetons, town coaches, traps, two-wheelers, mail coaches, commercial vehicles, hansom cabs, hearses, landaus, landolets, phaetons, victorias, vis-a-vis, passenger wagons, wagons, wagonettes, a glossary is included in this hardback three ring binder, 266 pages. 8" 1/2 x 14" in size. $55.00 PPD.
Bowman Carriage and Trading Company, 253 S. Thompsonville Rd., Thompsonville, IL 62890