Download or read book The Artisan of Ipswich written by Robert Tarule and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2004-09-06 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Dennis emigrated to America from England in 1663, settling in Ipswich, a Massachusetts village a long day's sail north of Boston. He had apprenticed in joinery, the most common method of making furniture in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Britain. He set up shop in the heart of the village and during his lifetime became a highly accomplished craftsman. Today, connoisseurs judge his elaborately carved furniture as among the best produced in seventeenth-century America. In this unusual study, historian and woodworker Robert Tarule brilliantly recreates Dennis's world in recounting how -- from selecting and cutting trees to polishing the assembled piece -- he created a single oak chest.