The Panorama Of Professions And Trades (1837)
Oct 10th, 2009 by Doug Berch
As I recover from gallbladder surgery the most frustrating thing is not being able to work in my shop for a week. I feel pretty darn good but I’m not supposed to lift anything over ten pounds, push a plane, etc. Probably not a good idea to go to the sawmill and sort through lumber either.
Nor would it be a good time to learn to play dulcimer while riding a unicycle.
I’m taking the time to design a new instrument or two and find myself exploring the wealth of old information available via new technology.
Here’ a fun one. Books of this type were given to young people (well, probably young men keeping the time of history in mind) to help them learn about the various professions they could pursue.
So take a gander and see if you think you are more cut-out to be an architect, a shipwright, a clergyman, a tanner, a mason….
You can download “The Panorama of Professions And Trades” by Edward Hazen at Google Books
A better quality scan in two volumes of a nearly identical volume by the same author titled “Popular Technology; or, Professions and Trades” by the same author is available at the Internet Archive.
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Hi Doug,
I hate to hear about the surgery. I hope you have a speedy recovery…and stay off of that unicycle!
Randy
Hi Randy,
Thanks for the kind words. Surgery was a breeze as far as such things go. Looking forward to getting back into the shop in a few days. And I’ll stay off the unicycle!
Glad you’re healed up enough to work in the shop again (by the time I’ve looked at the book linked above).
Pretty fascinating to review topics I know something about. On page 44, where it talks about spinning (“This operation is, in most cases, performed by females . . .”), it describes spinning on a great wheel (which it says is used for wool–not always true) and a flyer wheel (described as used for flax–also not always true). Yes, the wheels are often *called* “wool” and “flax” wheels, but. . . . It also describes the early-industrial jennies, frames, and mules. Anyway, parts of the original hand technology may have already been fading from common knowledge by the time this book was written, in *1837*–or, in attempting to cover such a broad territory of trades, the author understandably did not research each in depth.
Anyway, intriguing to look up a familiar topic and see how he presents it!
And to think about which skills we still, in the twenty-first century, would do well to maintain.