Book idea for Fox Chapel

Gary M. Peiffer · #1 03-09-2008, 08:42 PM

Fox Chapel Folks,

I met your Marketing person, Tracey, at the Lancaster Show this past weekend! Always love when the Fox Chapel folks show up at the local shows to talk with folks and show their stuff!

Floyd Rhadigan was at the show and in the show flyer, he mentions that he was influenced by the carving book "How to Carve Character in Wood" by H. S. "Andy" Anderson. I heard Harold Enlow mention this in book and Andy in the past. Unfortunately, this book is long out of print. Any chance that Fox Chapel could get the rights to reprint the book? Would really be neat if a foreward or a new section of the book could be written by current carvers who have been influenced by Anderson.

Gary

gene messer · #2 03-09-2008, 09:38 PM

Gary .. I am fortunate enough to have two copies of this wonderful book by Andy Anderson .. And I visit a museum in Orange Texas that has a collection of his entire works .. It is unbelievable to see it in person .. Andy was one great carver ...

And who say how many carvers he influenced with his life .. he was truly a grandfather of caricature carving .. and one of the greatest ..

Watch on e-bay every once in awhile .. his book pops up to bid on .. truly a collectors item to own ..

God Bless

Gene

Gary M. Peiffer · #3 03-11-2008, 09:17 PM

Gene,

Thanks for the feedback and especially the info about the museum. If Fox Chapel was able to get the rights and reprint the book, perhaps they could do an expanded edition with some photos from the museum and commentary from current carvers. Maybe WCI should do an article on Anderson that includes a visit to the museum.

At any rate, great suggestion to troll ebay for the book. Of course, if you are willing to part with your redundant (second) copy of the title, I would be interested!

Take care in Texas land!

Gary

Shannon · #4 03-12-2008, 07:24 AM

We did do an article on Andy Anderson - way back in issue #7. We've actually tossed around the idea of reprinting the book a few times, but didn't feel there was enough of a market. I do like the idea of adding a forward and comments from well known carvers who were inspired by Andy's book. Still not sure it is enough to make it marketable in today's world.

Lynn O. Doughty · #5 03-12-2008, 08:29 AM

Please don't reissue that book. It's a classic that stands by itself. Half the fun of Andy's legacy is having one of his books as you know it's a rare find. If a new book is needed then do a little research and issue a completely new one. I'm proud to say that I was heavily influenced by his story and still am. However, I sure wouldn't want my meager efforts to be compared to his in a book written by him.

DADDIO · #6 03-12-2008, 10:30 AM

im with ya on this one lynn,after i started carving and heard about him and his book it became a quest for me to locate and have one,after a heated bidding frenzy on e-bay one night i won one and was whooping and hollering
i have since read and reread that book several times.yea leave the classics alone,you can find em and that's part of the fun,on the other hand in my opinion if anyone should have a book lynn you surely deserve to have one,you are a modern day version of mr anderson in my opinion. in the fact that you take what he ,did applied it to your carving style, and then took it on up to the next level.

Gary M. Peiffer · #7 03-12-2008, 12:10 PM

Shannon and all,

Thanks for the feedback. I will have to dig up WCI 7 for the Anderson article. Concerning a reprint (or maybe better, an updated version), I would hope that this idea will have careful consideration by Fox Chapel given the interests in caricature/western carvers.

Lynn/Daddio- I do love a treasure hunt and finding those rare items that you can cherish is indeed satisfying. At the same time, I am considered a "younger" carver by my peers, and am only vaguely aware of Anderson and his work. I suspect that in the next generation or two, Anderson will fade to some level of obscurity since there are no new books on him that I am aware of, or availability of his book as originally published. Net, it would be tragic to have Anderson's contribution to carving fade away or be known to very few which could happen 20-50 years down the road.

Again, thank you all for the feedback, part of the reason that the WCI Message Board is cool!

Just Carving · #8 03-12-2008, 12:47 PM

I JUST BOUGHT A USED ONE FOR $25 PLUS S&H ($3.99)!!!
There's one more for $39 plus s&h ($3.99).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/093...TF8&me=&seller=

Lynn O. Doughty · #9 03-12-2008, 12:51 PM

No, I don't think Andy will fade away like most of us will. Anyone serious about caricature carving knows of him and just how much those of us around today owe him. Funny, I just went to Gene Zesch's website and read his bio and he says he got his start during a visit to Santa Fe back in the 50's and saw some guy carving a likeness of Eisenhower. Gee, I wonder who that could have been??? I'm not saying it was him who got Gene started but I'll bet anything that that fella's first name started with "Andy"!

I too would give anything to be able to buy a book about Andy that included photos of all his carvings that could be tracked down. Now that would be a book to have! It might, if done correctly, even elevate our art to a higher plane.

Clifford_Parker · #10 03-14-2008, 07:03 PM

Actually there have already been two editions of this book, in 1953 by University of New Mexico Press and in 1972 by Old West Pub. Co so why would another edition hurt anything?