German book on leatherwork

[Mulesaw]

After searching for books about saddle making, I tried to do a similar search in German. And I found an impressive book called "Das Sattler Riemer und Täschner Handwerk"

The book is from a small printing house called Fines Mundi from Germany. And it is a 100% copy of the original book which was published in Berlin in 1908.
The author is Karl Vollmer, who was an old master saddle maker from Mannheim. 

There are 691 pages from the first edition, and an additional 40 pages that were included in the second edition of the book. Coupled with 1046 illustrations it is an impressive piece of work.
It seems as the original book was supplied with some full size plans for a couple of the things, but sadly these are not part of the book anymore, I guess that the printing house haven't found anyone who has actually kept these full size plans.

Not surprisingly, a large part of the book is about horse related work, but it is not limited to saddles and headstalls. There are theoretic chapters about the horse and the physiology of the animal, a chapter on making fancy work for parade draft horses, a chapter on everyday working gear for horse. Various plans for specific military gear depending if your were to make a breastplate or a headstall for a Hussar officer or a regular infantry officer. And the list goes on and on. Wagon building is covered too, though it is is noted that it should happen in collaboration with the blacksmith and the regular coach builder. But the upholstery is described in detail, as is the choice and method of painting the wagon.
The modern invention automobile is also mentioned as something that can provide a bit of work both on items like leather goggle and again upholstery.

It seems as the author really wanted to convey all his years of wisdom to someone who wanted to start out on their own, so the economics of a saddle making business is discussed in a separate chapter, and then an entire chapter is devoted to examples of letters that you might have to write as a business owner. Letters of announcing that you are opening shop, letters to offer your services to prospective buyers. Letters to people who owe you money etc.

The only drawback to the book in my opinion is that it is printed in gothic style letters. that makes it a bit hard to read until you become accustomed to them which takes a little while. 
The book is also  written in German which might be a deal breaker to some. 

When I bought it, the shipping was much slower than anticipated, but I might not be the most patient guy when it comes to waiting on books and stuff that I have ordered.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Fines Mundi or the author, and I did not receive any discount or special treatment for writing this post. I just figure that in this forum there might be one or two people who could appreciate to learn about the existence of an interesting book from a master saddler.

 

[Northmount]

@Mulesaw Moved your post to general saddlery discussion.  I think it will get more interest in that group here.

[Mulesaw]

8 hours ago, Northmount said:

@Mulesaw Moved your post to general saddlery discussion.  I think it will get more interest in that group here.

Good idea, and thanks :-)

[Klara]

Yes, I do appreciate the tip, thank you! I put it immediately on my wishlist, even though I don't exactly need a textbook on what a master saddler needed to know over a hundred years ago. (Historical note: In Germany, and other European countries, you couldn't/can't simply set up shop in a traditional trade when you feel like it. You need(ed) to do a few years of apprenticeship, at the end of which you passed your journeyman exam which allowed you to work in a master's shop. After again a few years you could do your masterpiece, pass another exam, obtain the title of master and then set out on your own. Some of these rules have survived till today, but I don't know details.)

[Sheilajeanne]

A friend I used to ride with many years ago was from Germany. Her husband owned a painting business. The same rules applied to go into that business, and the apprenticeship was quite long!

[Mulesaw]

In Denmark it used to be that each small town would have its own "gilde" for each profession. Pronounced very similar to the English "guild"  (I guess it is actually the same word)

Later on another word called "laug" was used. But the basic operating principles were the same.

You had to prove that you were capable of doing work that would live up to the standards of the guild, and (probably more important) the guild would set its own rules for how many masters of there could be within the local area of the guild. The latter was so that you had a way of making sure that there was enough work for those who were already established, so they would be able to make a living.

Traditionally they would also work as a social security system for e.g widows of diseased members of the guild. So you would pay a fee (monthly or yearly) to the guild, and some of those funds would be used to provide for those in need who were connected in some way with the local guild.

I would love to take some pictures of some of the illustrations of the book to back up my endorsement of it, but I couldn't find any descriptions of the policy regarding that on the homepage of the printing house. So I don't want to get in trouble with any copyright here, so you just have to take my word for it. I got the deluxe version of the book, but there's also a paperback version. I just happen to like a nice looking book, and I like to support a business that try to keep small crafts like bookbinding alive in Europe. But I am pretty sure that the content of the books is the same.

So far I have started making a halter using a plan from the book. It is a bit different those that I have made before in that there is also a band for the forehead of the horse. Which I have never seen on halters, but only on a headstall.
There's also plans for a side saddle which could be fun to make at some point :-)
 

[chuck123wapati]

https://sites.google.com/a/poitar.host/langdjerold/das-sattler-riemer-und-taschner-handwerk

[Klara]

17 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

https://sites.google.com/a/poitar.host/langdjerold/das-sattler-riemer-und-taschner-handwerk

Have you managed to download the book? For me the links go nowhere and the "description" below the picture is highly suspicious (complete nonsense). I was hoping to maybe find it on German Gutenberg project, but no luck...

Amazon Germany has quite a few pages preview though: https://www.amazon.de/Das-Sattler-Riemer-Täschner-Handwerk/dp/374189883X?asin=374189883X&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

Edited September 25, 2021 by Klara

[chuck123wapati]

9 minutes ago, Klara said:

Have you managed to download the book? For me the links go nowhere and the "description" below the picture is highly suspicious (complete nonsense). I was hoping to maybe find it on German Gutenberg project, but no luck...

Amazon Germany has quite a few pages preview though: https://www.amazon.de/Das-Sattler-Riemer-Täschner-Handwerk/dp/374189883X?asin=374189883X&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

no same here i'm still trying.

[Mulesaw]

I doubt that the book is made available as an electronic book, but I could be wrong.
Here are two links, one for the book on Amazon and one from the printing house itself. 

I can inly find the paperback version on Amazon, it is sort of half the price of the de luxe version.

https://www.amazon.de/Das-Sattler-Riemer-Täschner-Handwerk/dp/374189883X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

https://fines-mundi.de/vollmer-das-sattler-riemer-und-taeschner-handwerk