Anvils in America book cover Anvils in America, Second and Third printing with slip cover

Anvils in America by Richard Postman

555 pages, color frontispiece, hundreds of black and white illustrations
Hard bound smyth sewn with color slip cover.

LOOK NO FURTHER!

This is THE ONLY book about anvils, their history and manufacture.

This book is huge! (11¼ x 8½ x 1½ inches and almost 5 pounds!). When I ordered this book I thought it was a little pricey but after getting my hands on it I realized that it was worth as much as any of the $300 references I have bought from ASM! The collector's book of the century! - anvilfire guru 1998

THIS is the book that has created today's anvil collector's market. Before AIA as it is known as in blacksmithing circles many old anvils were selling for junk prices or less than scrap. Now many of those same anvils are selling for thousands of dollars like the 300 year old museum pieces they are!

  • IF you like old tools and collect or use them this is a book for you!
  • IF you are a student of industrial history this is a key resource.
  • IF you are a blacksmith or farrier and have any interest in the history of your tools this is a book for you.
  • IF you are an antique dealer or have old tools to identify and sell this is a book for you.
The first thing that catches your eye on opening the book is a beautiful color painting commissioned for the book called "The last anvil makers", by Nathan Green used on the slip cover and as frontispiece . The book starts with your usual anvil basics illustrated by dozens of photos by the author (which by the way were well taken and reproduced with skill). Postman then goes on with a history of anvils and reproductions of hundreds of original anvil ads and fliers illustrated by even MORE of Postman's photos. He also reproduces important historical patents AND patents for strange oddball anvil "systems" that may or may (more likely) not have been manufactured. There are numerous lists of makers marks and anvil stories collected by the author. The history of numerous American and English makers is given.

After seeing all this you think, "What more could there be?"

Well. . . There are fliers from most of the modern anvil makers with specs and even more photos!

Sonoma Anvil Old German Anvil
Color photos of two "Colonial" anvils from back of new slipcover
Then we get to the part that interested me the most, an article by Jim Austin of the California Blacksmiths Association on forging anvils including historical photos of the process. The article describes and shows anvils being forged, welded and ground. There is also an article with drawings taken from a Hey-Budden sales booklet describing the manufacture of anvils.
The last anvil makers (c) Nathan Green
The last anvil makers
(c) 1996 Nathan Green
Illustration from Hay-Budden booklet
Illustration from
Hay-Budden booklet

The book also includes all kinds of anvil miscellany. Ads and trademarks using anvils, miniature advertising anvils and the hilarious Christmas card images created by Gill Fahrenwald, "Caught in a shower of anvils" and "Roasting marshmellows over an open anvil"

There is also a smattering of vise, swage block and other forging/blacksmithing tools and equipment shown, which makes the book even more interesting to those of us who have collected these old tools for years. This book is about anvils in America, The author notes that there is still a world full of European and Asian anvils to research and record!

NOTICE: The author has received numerous complaints about this book! Apparently it causes insomnia in certain individuals who cannot put it down!

Champion bridge anvil
Champion bridge or railroad anvil

Written and published by Richard Postman, Postma Publishing, 1998
ISBN 0-9663256-0-5
LOC 98-91240


NEW, Fourth printing - Signed by the author!