63 wood Book

The Woodbook
Romeyn B. Hough:
Leistikow, Prof. Dr. Klaus Ulrich / Thüs, Holger / Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

"The specimens, as things of beauty, are greatly to be prized…. The work is valuable and unique."
—The Boston Globe, on the original edition

Culled and assembled by Romeyn Beck Hough between 1888 and 1913 in what still remains and
stunning and unparalleled achievement, American Woods —originally published in 14 volumes, with
actual specimens mounted on card stock—is a work of breathtaking beauty that has set the standard
for study of trees and wood. TASCHEN’s Wood Book reproduces, in painstaking facsimile, all of
the specimen pages from the original volumes; for this purpose we have obtained the use of an
extremely rare original set of volumes in very good condition, with minimal damage to the wood cuts.
For each tree, three different cross-section cuts of wood are represented (radial, horizontal, and
vertical), demonstrating the particular characteristics of the grain and the wealth of colors and textures
to be found among the many different wood types. Also included in this special edition are
lithographs by Charles Sprague Sargent of the leaves and nuts of most trees, as well as texts
describing the trees’ geographical origins and physical characteristics. Interior designers, craftsmen,
nature enthusiasts, and artists alike will enjoy this beautiful collection of wood samples which includes
many trees that are now very rare or completely extinct.

Reviews:
"This unusual sample book was the lifetime work of Romeyn B. Hough, whose devotion to the study
of American trees resulted in the production of this monumental publication and his best known
work, Handbook of Trees of the Northern States of Canada.
In the field of American dendrology, this later work became the standard reference, but the
lavishly-produced American Woods provided a much larger and more unique record of American
wood types. The age of these specimens gives them great importance from an ecological standpoint,
but the work also has interest to students of American furniture and woodcrafts. Of equal significance
is the fact that it would not be possible to reproduce the same range of woods today.

Hough explained the unique nature of his work: it is „illustrated by actual specimens, and being in this
way an exhibition of nature itself it possesses a peculiar and great interest never found in a
press-printed book. The specimens are about 2 x 5 inches in size, and sufficiently thin to admit of
examination in transmitted light ... Looked at in reflected light they appear as in the board or log ...
These specimens are mounted in durable frame-like bristol-board pages, with black waterproofed
surfaces ... and each bears printed in gold-bronze the technical name of the species and its English,
German, French and Spanish names ... The woods used for the specimens are personally collected
by the author ... and are sectioned and prepared by a process of his own evidence."
Christie's catalogue, New York, October 2003
United States