I’ve decided I’d like to keep a running list of the most useful shoe and last making books I’ve read, as an aid to people just starting. These are the ones I’d recommend reading first, because I think they offer the most useful and interesting information per hour of reading time and per dollar. I’ll try to remember to update this post as I continue reading.
My experience has been that it’s often hard or expensive to get any good, newer books on shoemaking and especially on lastmaking. On the other hand, there is a ton of out-of-copyright material in online archives, most of which seemed irrelevant or merely interesting, but not terribly useful, as I read through systematically.
A Note on Other Media
On some subjects, especially lastmaking, the best information I’ve found hasn’t been in books. It’s been in videos of Bill Bird, Lee Miller, Helge Baumeister, and Kazuma Nishimura. On other topics, such as patterning, books have been the most useful. Even so, there are often specific points of techniques better seen on film than explained in words or even successive photos, such as springing.
Harry Rogers’ Making Handmade Shoes: A Step-by-Step Guide
Don’t miss the accompanying YouTube series, which can also be watched on its own, without the book.
I wouldn’t call this book comprehensive or definitive, but it’s the clearest recent step-by-step for welted shoes that I’ve seen. The price is a fraction of that for Tim Skyrme’s Bespoke Shoemaking, a similar step-by-step guide for a similar style of shoe with photos and some video.
Harry is based in England, and mentions many supplies and especially tools that will be easier to find at affordable prices there than, say, in the United States. He’s good about mentioning that those tools are nice to have, but not necessary. I’d suggest taking it as a challenge to do as much with fewer, more versatile tools as possible.
Wade Motawi’s Footwear Pattern Making and Last Design
Wade focuses mostly on sneakers and athletic shoes, but this book offers a broad general introduction, with lots of photos, diagrams, and definitions. There are clear, step-by-step instructions for creating mean forms by last taping, as well as patterning on that form.
Edward Swaysland’s Boot and Shoe Design and Manufacture
Internet Archive, thanks to forum member @AvM!
The most comprehensive manual of European-style leather shoemaking I’ve seen, and by a single author. Somewhat dated in some particulars, but often with more detail than more recent books, for example on lastmaking.
Golding’s Boots and Shoes probably gets mentioned more often, in part because scans of at least some volumes and chapters have been online for longer, thanks first to the late D.W. Frommer II of The Honorable Cordwainers’ Company and others. However, Golding is really an edited collection of pamphlets, bound as chapters, written by authors on particular topics or processes. If you’re looking for second readings on a particular steps, for example lasting, take a look at the Golding chapters that cover it. But I can only recommend reading Golding volumes one after another for fellow obsessives and completionists.
There is also a single-volume abridgement of Boots and Shoes, J. Korn’s Boot and Shoe Production, but I haven’t read it or seen any scans of it online.
H.J. Patrick’s Modern Pattern Cutting and Design
A popular pattern reference with diagrams and geometric methods for several styles of men’s, women’s, and children’s shoes and boots.
Sterling Last Corporation’s Historical Highlights of American Lastmaking and American Shoemaking
This is the best source on lastmaking I’ve found, in terms of useful information per page. Those looking for a very explicit, step-by-step, geometric manual for making lasts from laminated fiberboard should find George Koleff’s Last Designing & Making Manual.
United Shoe Machinery Corporation’s Shoemaking Manual: Shoes and How They Are Made
An introduction to shoemaking written for new USMC personnel. This short book focuses on factory and machine methods for leather shoemaking, but was still worthwhile me as a handiwork-focused maker.
For a shorter, more consumer-focused introduction to factory production, see USMC’s How Modern Shoes Are Made. That pamphlet overviews a number of construction methods common in the middle of the 20th century.
R.A. Salaman’s Dictionary of Leather-Working Tools, c. 1700-1950, and The Tools of Allied Trades
Tool mania is endemic to shoemaking. I’ve got it, too. I don’t like it, or the barriers it throws up at beginners, and I don’t want to encourage it. But this is a very handy reference work, especially when trying to decipher the name of a tool mentioned in some other source.
The book also reproduces a bunch of old tool supply catalog drawings, especially from Barnsley, back when a much wider range of tools was available. A scan of an old USMC “Tools for the Shoemaker” catalog is also available online.
Aside: Max Sahm’s Arbeits- und Fachkunde für Schuhmacher
Not reading German, I’ve only skimmed and translated select sections of this book. I mention it here because it’s universally praised by German-reading shoemakers, and I find myself looking up and translating specific sections when I’m stuck on a question. Often there’s a very clear figure or photo when I do.
My work-in-progress English table of contents is available on my wiki page for the book.
End Note: Popular Books Not on this List
I’ve noticed that a few other books get mentioned by other makers rather often. These aren’t books chock full of good reference or practical know-how, but rather common touch points and inspirations for people in the craft.
-
Lászlo Vass and Magda Molnár’s Handmade Shoes for Men has some tidbits and tips on making methods here and there, but mostly shines as a picture book. Many read the book and aspire to commission bespoke shoes. A few doomed souls read the book and want to make the shoes.
-
Tyler Beard’s The Cowboy Boot Book put a spotlight on the fancy topstitching and inlay work of the custom scene, boosting the careers of every maker featured in it.
-
Salvatore Ferragamo’s Shoemaker of Dreams is a classic Horatio Alger-style tale of a shoemaker immigrating from humble circumstances, making his name in America, and establishing a world-famous company. Ferragamo teases a “secret” of perfect fit, but never sets it out explicitly.
-
Barbara Brackman’s “Legend Posing as History” book chapter, available from Lisa Sorrell. Historical research cutting through much of the lore of cowboy boot styling and boot companies.