Lost Art Press

Books published by Lost Arts Press!

Info from their website:

Lost Art Press LLC was founded in 2007 by two enthusiastic woodworkers, John Hoffman and Christopher Schwarz, while attending a Lie-Nielsen Toolworks Open House in Warren, Maine.

The company started with a question: What happened to all the great woodworking books that used to be published? The books that changed the course of the craft and people’s lives? The books that explored our ever-diminishing link to the handwork of previous centuries?

And so we founded Lost Art Press on these simple principles:

  1. To encourage high-quality books, we offer royalty rates that are two or three times higher than the industry average. This approach helps support the work of independent woodworkers financially, as woodworking is a difficult profession to succeed in.
  2. All of our books are printed in the United States on the best materials we can obtain. We manufacture all of our books to last at least a century. That means using expensive sewn bindings, fiber tape and thick hardbacks. 
  3. We keep our books in print for as long as possible. Many publishers keep a book in print for 18 months and then sell it off to a discount bookseller to dispose of the rest of the inventory. This process, called remaindering, is one of the reasons most authors make a pittance from their books and discourages authors from publishing great, difficult material.
  4. We offer our authors equal footing on the details of their books. Unlike with corporate publishers, the title of the book, its design and manufacturing details are joint decisions between Lost Art Press and the writer.
  5. We have only three employees. We have to keep our expenses as low as possible because we return about half of all profits to the authors. So John and I have second jobs to make ends meet.
  6. We accept no sponsorships, affiliate money or free or discounted tools. Everything we write is 100 percent unsponsored. 
  7. We operate without debt and pay our suppliers promptly.
  8. We sell our books only through outlets we trust completely – family-run businesses such as ours. We do not sell through mass-market retailers or Amazon.
  9. We do not discount or put our books on sale. We think everyone should pay the same price when they buy our books – a fair price that allows us to stay in business and keeps our authors fed.