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Also by David Esterly:

The Lost Carving, January 2013
Hardcover / e-Book

THE LOST CARVING
By: David Esterly

A Journey to the Heart of Making

Viking
January 2013
On Sale: December 27, 2012
288 pages
ISBN: 0670023809
EAN: 9780670023806
Kindle: B008EKOQQW
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Memoir

Awestruck at the sight of a Grinling Gibbons carving in a London church, David Esterly chose to dedicate his life to woodcarving—its physical rhythms, intricate beauty, and intellectual demands. Forty years later, he is the foremost practitioner of Gibbons’s forgotten technique, which revolutionized ornamental sculpture in the late 1600s with its spectacular cascades of flowers, fruits, and foliage.

After a disastrous fire at Henry VIII’s Hampton Court Palace, Esterly was asked to replace the Gibbons masterpiece destroyed by the flames. It turned out to be the most challenging year in Esterly’s life, forcing him to question his abilities and delve deeply into what it means to make a thing well. Written with a philosopher’s intellect and a poet’s grace, The Lost Carving explores the connection between creativity and physical work and illuminates the passionate pursuit of a vocation that unites head and hand and heart.

Media Buzz

All Things Considered - January 6, 2013