We’ve waited a while to make this announcement, but now that Issue Three is completely sold out of our store, we’re letting you know about our upcoming book release: a hardbound republication of Issues 1-3. We will include every single page of those three issues in the book, but this is not a simple reprint. This book – titled The First Three Issues – includes behind-the-scenes photographs and stories as well as additional essays from M&T editors Michael Updegraff, Jim McConnell, and me about M&T’s distinctive vision and role in the woodworking community. On top of that, Christopher Schwarz of Lost Art Press (does he even need an introduction?) has written a wonderful foreword. Chris was the first person I consulted before launching this magazine, and as he’s mentored me along the way, Chris has insight into the way that M&T ticks that no one else does. And his take on this is a delight to read.
We’ve always said that we would not reprint any back issues, but the value of this material along with these new essays makes it worthy of compilation into one volume. So many readers over the years have been writing to us desperate for Issues One and Two, but the only advice we could give them was to keep an eye out for the rare instance of an eBay auction. We’ve seen back issues of M&T on eBay only a few times and each time they’ve gone for crazy high prices: a single copy of Issue One sold for $150 and a set of Issues 1-4 went for nearly $400. We know that our customers are anxious to get their hands on these issues, but seriously, that’s nuts. We’ve got to get this content back in print.
The First Three Issues will be hardbound with sewn binding for long-term durability, matte-coated paper for a different presentation than the originals, and an index covering all three issues. Yes, this is going to be a massive book: over 450 pages.
We will be opening pre-orders for this book at the end of this week: Friday, April 16th. The book is scheduled to ship from the printer in August.
We are feeling relief to be able to offer a fresh presentation of this timeless and sought-after material. We were able to publish articles from some pretty amazing folks right out of the gate. Check out the tables of contents for Issue One, Issue Two, and Issue Three and you’ll see what I mean.
It’s time to bring this stuff back. Hang tight till Friday.
– Joshua