author
Fred T. (Frederick Thomas) Hodgson
1832–1919
An English-born builder, architect, and practical writing powerhouse, he turned hands-on trade knowledge into widely read manuals for carpenters, finishers, and home builders. His books are clear, useful, and rooted in real work.
3 Audiobooks
The Library of Work and Play: Mechanics, Indoors and Out
by Fred T. (Frederick Thomas) Hodgson
ABC of the steel square and its uses
by Fred T. (Frederick Thomas) Hodgson
Stair-building and the steel square : A manual of practical instruction in the art of stair-building and hand-railing, and the manifold uses of the steel square
by Fred T. (Frederick Thomas) Hodgson, Morris Williams
About the author
Born in Selby, Yorkshire, in 1832, Frederick Thomas Hodgson emigrated to Upper Canada as a teenager in 1847. He became active in and around Collingwood, Ontario, where he worked as a surveyor and builder and, later in life, as an architect.
Hodgson is remembered both for the buildings he helped shape and for the large body of practical books he produced for tradespeople and home builders. Project Gutenberg lists works including The Library of Work and Play: Mechanics, Indoors and Out and ABC of the Steel Square and Its Uses, while library and catalog records show many more manuals on carpentry, finishing, masonry, estimating, and house building.
What makes his work stand out is its practical spirit. He wrote for readers who wanted to learn by doing, and his books aimed to solve everyday problems for carpenters, builders, and architects rather than simply describe theory. He died in 1919.