The TATHS Library contains over 1100 books and catalogues on tools and trades, including many that are out of print.

The TATHS Library is located at the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading. It can be visited in the Reading Room without charge but it is necessary to make an appointment.

Some items may be temporarily removed either by MERL for exhibition elsewhere or by the TATHS Librarian. It is advisable to check with the TATHS Librarian, Steve Dowling, before making a visit to view a particular item. Email: The Librarian

The Reading Room is open from 10am to 5pm on Mondays and from 9am to 5pm, Tuesday to Friday. It is open to the public. To make an appointment, telephone: 0118 378 8660 or email merl@reading.ac.uk.

The Museum of English Rural Life, The University of Reading, Redlands Road, Reading RG1 5EX. Further information can be obtained on the MERL web site.

(Note that if you were hoping to visit the library and also see the main MERL collection of rural artefacts, the museum galleries are closed for redevelopment from 1st November 2014 until early 2016. The library remains accessible.)

Click on any of the changing pictures below to see a bigger selection of books in the TATHS Library.

 

Details

The Library Catalogue is available for download in pdf format. It is fully searchable - in most pdf viewers you can search by clicking on Control + F (or Command + F) or by choosing from a menu.

 For other formats, and for any enquiries about the catalogue or the library contents, email the librarian.

Details

The catalogue of items in the TATHS library at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) is in title order. The items within the library are filed strictly in TATHS Accession Number order and it will help the library staff if you quote both title and number when requesting to view a particular item.

A Class has been assigned to show whether the item is a Book (B), Almanac (ALM), Trade Catalogue (TC) , Video, CD or Other (O).

An attempt has been made to provide a Category and in some cases Sub Category to give some indication of the subject matter and help to search for a particular subject. On some Trade Catalogue entries the Sub Category indicates the firm involved.

Categories and Sub Categories  

18th Century Tools
Adzes
  Axes
Agricultural
  Horticultural
Archaeological Tools
Blacksmithing Farrier
Bookbinding
Boring Tools
Brickwork
Building
  Architecture, Leadwork, Steelwork, Plastering,
  Electrical, Glass, Fixings, Plumbing, Surveying, Lifts,
  Heating, Roofing
Cabinet Making
  Ornament
Carpentry
  Joinery
Collecting
Coopering
Country Crafts
  Coppicing, Thatching, Corkcutting, Buttonhooks, Canework
Decorative Arts
  Pottery, Sculpture
Draughting
  Drawing, Design
Edge Tools
Encyclopedia
Engineering
  Steam
European Tools
Furniture
  Treen
Gauging Instruments
Hammers
Hardware
  Nailmaking, Woodscrews
Hones
  Stones, Abrading
Horological Tools
Iron
  Steel, trade Ironwork
Joinery Trades
Kitchenalia
  Baking, Cheesemaking, Grocery
Knives
  Scissors
Lathes

Leather Trades
  Shoemaking, Saddlery
Locks
Marking
  Setting out Tools
Medical
  Dental Instruments
Metalwork
  Gunsmithing
Milling (millwrighting not metalwork)
Musical Instruments
North American Tools
  Lathes, Levels
Planes-metal
Planes-wooden
Printed Ephemera
Printing
Rope work
Rules
  Measuring, Sliderules
Saws
Scientific Instruments
  Globes, Lens making, Microscopy
Shipwrighting
Silversmithing
Social History (includes Biographies, and registers)
  Directories
Stonemasonry
Textiles
  Felt, Linen, Tailoring, Needlework, Spinning, Embroidery,
  Cloth Finishing
Timber Trade
Tinsmithing
  Coppersmith
Tool Manufacture
Tools
  Supplies ( wide ranging TCs )
  Undertaker's supplies
Trade Catalogues (these appear as TC in the Class field)
Trademarks
Veterinary Instruments
Welding
Wheelwrighting
Woodcarving
Woodworking Tools

Details