1797 - The Tool Chest of Benjamin Seaton - 2nd Edition
The Seaton Chest, now in the Guildhall Museum, Rochester, Kent, is the finest and most complete surviving example of an 18th century cabinet-makers kit in Britain, if not in the world.
The tools, which are generally in little used condition, were bought in 1796 by Joseph Seaton, cabinet-maker, of Chatham, Kent, for his 21-year-old son, Benjamin. They were supplied by Christopher Gabriel and Sons, a leading tool dealer and plane-maker of Banner Street, London. Benjamin made a fine tool chest for his new tools and recorded their cost in an inventory which survives with the chest.
In the 1st edition of this publication, written by a group of Tools and Trades HIstory Society members, the chest and its tools, many of which will be unfamiliar to today's craftsman, are described and set in context.
This 2nd edition, written by both TATHS members and the staff of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia, includes a considerable amount of new information about the tools and the chest and also a description of the making of a replica chest for Colonial Williamsburg.
