On Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:39:30 -0400, JoanD'arcRoast
wrote:

I see several old copies available on eBay.

Is there a particular edition/year that is considered "best" in some
way?

(Such as: Better illustrations? Easier-to-understand writing style?
More applicable to current machine designs? Layout or presentation of
information? Other considerations?)

I am a lurker w/o a lathe - who will someday get one; in the meantime
would like to bone up on the basic principles.

-j
==========
Get acquainted with Lindsay books.
http://lindsaybks.com/

for lathe in particular see
http://lindsaybks.com/bks/lathebk/index.html

Everything I have purchased from Lindsay has been good. His
re-prints of the older books are very helpful for the home
machinist as these stress ingenuity over attachments.
http://lindsaybks.com/prod/sub/machine.html

Milne is a particularly good machining overview
http://lindsaybks.com/bks/milne/index.html

Just remember that this is a reprint from the 1940s and don't
waste [too much] time attempt to locate some of the obsolete
tools such as "Skinner" drill chucks.

For deeper insight into how some of the machine tools work and
are constructed, see the Gingery series on building your own.
Even if you don't build your own, these will give you some
insight into the operating principals and "work arounds."
http://lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/series/index.html
also
http://lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/index.html

His shop notebook is very good.
http://lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/shopn1/index.html

My only problem is spending all my hobby money on books...


Unka' George [George McDuffee]
-------------------------------------------
He that will not apply new remedies,
must expect new evils:
for Time is the greatest innovator: and
if Time, of course, alter things to the worse,
and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better,
what shall be the end?

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman.
Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).