It doesn’t happen that often, but once in a while we get-in what looks like an interesting ‘run of the mill’ book for consideration, open it and get really excited; these two dictionaries have this effect on me. I unreservedly recommend them as fascinating, even if you only have a passing interest in wood or leather working, and the tools employed - these are tributes to the ingenuity of man!

Here the tools are very definitely grouped by the trades, ranging from Bookbinder, through Harness Maker and Saddler to Whip Maker. Perhaps because leather-working tools are less well known, the interest level here is very high, especially in the development of specialist tools for each trade. 382 pages, full of illustrations. Larger format paperback. Astragal Press