Mackintosh plans?

[Kent A Bathurst]

Any advice on source for detailed plans/drawings for Charles Rennie Mackintosh pieces? Personal use only, no sales.

Roger Billcliffe: Complete Furniture, Furniture Drawings and Interior Designs is available used starting at about $300 (yeesh) and a reprint is coming soon - I think - for $200 or so.

That'd be a "swallow hard and buy" type of thing if it had the details necessary for repro's.

Any other sources? Any experience with the above book?

[Shawn Pixley]

I think you will have to pay up. Just a warning, the pieces are smaller than will comfortably fit most Americans.

[Kent A Bathurst]

As I figured. Have been to Willow Tea Rooms, Hill House, etc., etc., so some familiarity. If I built a chair, not sure that it would be primarily for sitting - more like another piece of art. Thanks.

[Rob Fisher]

The Billcliffe book that you mentioned is the best that I could find when I had done previous research on this topic. I am waiting for the reprint to be released so that I can get a copy.

And yeah, its a steep price but not that bad when you consider its the only book of its kind.

Rob

[Ben Martin]

I checked my local libraries, doesn't appear to be available. Maybe your does?

[Wayne Sparkman]

265 libraries around the country have that book.
Look it up on www.worldcat.org and the search engine will reply with a list of libraries near you and even tell you how far away they are from your location!

There is also this title (not sure if the content is the same), and about 247 libraries have it available:
Mackintosh furniture / Roger Billcliffe
1984 English Book 218, [5] p. : ill. ; 26 cm.
Cambridge [Cambridgeshire] : Lutterworth Press,

[Kent A Bathurst]

Rob - avail for pre-order @ Borders + others, I'm sure.
Do you know what level of info is included? Is it enough that I can use it for the odd repro, assuming I will have to fill in some gaps in the info?

[Rob Fisher]

Rob - avail for pre-order @ Borders + others, I'm sure.
Do you know what level of info is included? Is it enough that I can use it for the odd repro, assuming I will have to fill in some gaps in the info?

Unfortunately I do not know the level of detail, but considering Billcliffe is the worlds foremost expert on Mackintosh it is probably the best that you can get.

And yeah, I saw the preorders. If I recall correctly amazon was preordering it well over a year ago, however that was dropped at some point and now it just says not available with a publication date of Oct 09. Something tells me that date has changed many times before so I am not holding my breath. But I will be buying it when it does become available.

Have you built any Mackintosh repos or inspired pieces? If so I would love to see them.

Rob

[Kent A Bathurst]

Nah. Not yet. I've been stuck in the Gustav Stickley/Harvey Ellis time warp. Self-taught, so "nothing rounded" made that journet easier. A+C architecture for all our houses. Love it.

I think the CRM stuff is a little outside that envelope, but more from a "leading edge of the envelope" type of thing, and I have always been enamored of the design lines, etc, plus the Scotland tours through his stuff will take your breath away. I know he didn't build it, but he darn sure knew how to design it.

I just never had enough basic info to let me feel comfortable teeing it up. Now I have enough under my belt that I am always happy to let 'er rip, mistake my way into it, knowing I can fix/overcome just about any screw-up (God knows I have the cv to prove that!)

[Louis Bois]

Kent, I own a copy of the aforementioned book. I ordered it from Powell's a few years ago and paid about 110 dollars for it. It's a fantastic book if you're a fan of CRM's work and there are copious photos of furniture, interiors, etc...to keep even the non-Mackintosh fan inspired.

However, if you're looking for detailed, measured drawings of his works, you may be slightly disappointed. There are lots of measured drawings and sketches (basic overall dimensions), but there aren't any construction details, etc... that would lead you into the shop ready to build. The sketches tend to be very tiny and would need to be examined with a loupe or scanned and blown up to be perfectly readable.

Having said that, it is a worthwhile purchase and I highly recommend it if you can get your hands on a copy. There's lots to keep any fan going back for more...and many included photos and sketches cannot be found elsewhere.

Good luck in your search...and I'll certainly post a "head's up" in this thread if I come across another copy.

Louis

[Kent A Bathurst]

Louis - Thanks for the insight. Wasn't expecting construction details - the measurements are my main goal. I was planning on getting one of those lighted magnifying things like my mother-in-law uses for needlepoint - for inlay stuff. Looks like a good idea. $110 sounds like a great deal - I'll probably get the new issue when it comes out.