Disclaimer: I’m nosy. No, not the gossip kind. I could care less about what some celebrity did or who with….I don’t even know who half of them are…nor do I care. I’m nosy about bookshelves. If I am in your home or shop, you can rest assured that I will look at what you’ve been reading. Usually because I might want to read it too. I can’t help it. And I won’t apologize for it. I like libraries, be they large institutions or small collections in private homes. And yeah, while I can forgive many transgressions, I still hold a grudge about the burning of Alexandria. As I suspect many of you may also be so inclined…I’m going to share a little bit of what is on one of my bookshelves. More specifically a small slice of neon sign related topics.
You can’t really be a neon tubebender and not have at least a book or two. Well, I suppose you could…..but it would be harder. Over the years I’ve had a few people ask me what books I would recommend for someone interested in this work. Luckily (or not, depending upon your view) I not only have an opinion on this but also a small but growing sample of books to draw information from. Having found most if not all of the available related books from the US, this little collection is now becoming international in scope. As well it should. Neon signs and art have found appreciation all over the world since the invention by Georges Claude in France over a hundred years ago…..so my library shelf should grow to reflect this.
As you might expect, there are many books of excellent photography of vintage and newer signs from around the world. I typically pick these up when I find them. They are of interest and a great source of ideas. Most people are familiar with this category of neon books. But what of books that deal with how to make neon signs? Ah, definitely not as common….and this is a category that I regularly seek out and when people ask for a good book on the subject my usual go-to recommendation if you can only have one book is almost always “Neon Techniques & Handling” by Samuel C. Miller.
This book has been printed in various incarnations since the 1960’s on up through the 90’s. It details nearly every aspect of the process, has good illustrations, photos, charts, and drawings. By most accounts it is the standard work on the subject. But it was not the first. Nor was it the first book on the subject that I directly encountered.
The first book I found on the subject was simply titled “Neon Signs” and was written by Samuel C. Miller and Donald G. Fink. Published in 1935, it is likely the first such volume readily available in the United States. Much of the same information was carried from this book into the 1952 edition renamed “Neon Signs and Cold Cathode Lighting” and then on into the series of “Neon Techniques” books that followed it. This is the book I initially learned from and I spent countless hours pouring through this book– repeatedly borrowing it from the library until I found an original copy I could purchase, and even now I still refer back to it often. If I could keep only one, this would be it.
Many years later, the “Neon Techniques” book was rewritten by Wayne Strattman. (he wrote a regular column of the same title in Signs of the Times magazine for many years) It again shares much of the same information, but with enough changes to not exactly be what I would consider a direct lineage back to the 1935 work. It is a good book in its own right and might be more easily obtained today than some of the others.
Another book I recently discovered is “Neon Principles” by Randall L. Caba. It was published in 1992 and while the drawings and diagrams are not of the same standards of the other earlier works, the charts are useful and the overall information is good. Perhaps most interestingly, the author had at one time run a neon school. As a result this book offers much more detail about the physical process of bending the glass tubes and even offers tips for how one should hold the piece, arm motions, etc. If you had no one actually there to teach you, this might save you from some difficulty and may even prevent the acquisition of bad habits. This part alone should make it one that the aspiring tubebender should seek out!
The only other book I have seen that similarly addressed the specifics of glass work for this application in such detail is a book my wife got for me from England. “Glassworking For Luminous Tubes” by Henry Eccles. A rare one from 1937.
This book details the glass working as its primary focus. Caba’s book has a good section on it that is more involved than that covered in most other books, but this 1937 book goes even farther as it is dedicated to this aspect of the trade specifically. If you needed information on processing, etc you would need another book. If you were in prewar England, I would suggest an edition of “Neon Tube Practice” as a possibility for a companion volume that would have been readily available in Britain at the time.
The “Neon Engineer’s Notebook” by Morgan Crook and Jacob Fishman is one that would be of use to those seeking to construct their own equipment. Especially in an era where this equipment is no longer commonly available. I’m a tool guy who likes building stuff and I enjoy setting up shops and I enjoy seeing how others have tackled the various problems. Like anyone, I might do certain things differently, but this book is a good source of ideas specific to the task that the ambitious shop equipment builder could find inspiration from.
The books I have found from the 1930’s from Germany are interesting in that they treat the glass working as a completely separate aspect from that of processing and filling and wiring the tubes. In fact, these books state that it is not possible to effectively learn the art of glassblowing from books and one must therefore obtain this skill only by apprenticeship work. This reflects the common specialization in European culture. And make no mistake, those I know who live there and learned under this arrangement are absolutely top-notch in their field! I think part of the reason this split developed is that Neon work came about after 1910 and became very popular in the 1920’s through the 1950’s. By this time, glassblowing for scientific purposes had been very well developed and with appropriate formal training programs well established in those countries. Thus, the labor pool that supplied the scientific glassblowers and the neon tubebenders was the same. Here in the US, they were generally separate, the labor pool of scientific glassblowers distinct from those whose work was directed at tasks such as the lighting industry and radio vacuum tube mass production. In a sense, it too, is specialization but in a different manner. This accounts for why the torches used in Europe for neon are much different than those used in the US. The European practice and methodology looks more akin to what a US based scientific glassblower would be familiar with. The US neon folks having evolved specific torches and methods that are different entirely, much of it evolved from lightbulb and radio tube practice.
No, I do not speak German. Or Italian. Or French. And my Spanish is rusty since I don’t use it often. But knowing the context and having a dictionary, some knowledgeable friends, and a degree of patience, I have been able to gain some information and insights from this avenue of study. It is interesting to see the different equipment and practices from other nations.
In addition to the US, British, and German books; I’ve found similar related books from Spain, Italy, and even China. Oddly, and most perplexing to me, is a lack of such a book from France to add to my collection. This is distressing to me. Yes, it almost keeps me awake at night. Neon originated in France. I have found period articles in French magazines and scientific journals, but no stand-alone books. Dammit, there SHOULD be a book from that era published in France! Right? Well… Maybe not. Georges Claude invented the use of neon in luminous tubes and obtained several patents for electrodes and his bombardment process. Claude licensed his techniques and as a result in the early days you had a lot of sign shops with names like “Claude Neon of ____ (location)” He was, as I understand it, very protective of his work and willing to take others to court and therefore I am left to wonder if any such French books existed, perhaps they were in the form of proprietary Claude company manuals issued to the various license holders of the time. If so, this would make them exceedingly rare in today’s world. The fact that for the most part, all other full works I have found on this subject have 1930 or later publication dates lends support to this concept since 1930 would have been close to when the Claude patents ran out. If you have such a book, please send it to me….the neon archaeologist wants to read it…and it’ll be a great way to brush up on my French.
After the various neon books, throw in a smattering of books on fluorochemistry, electronics, plasma physics, and high vacuum practice and you begin to have a good basis for a mad scientist’s library. Add in the multitude of other topics and you may find yourself being nosy at my bookshelves too. That’s ok, I will return the favor when visiting your place.
Excellent piece as always Robert, when you write these, you impart little known knowledge about the neon craft to us all, and inspire others to seek it out, aspire to it, join it, appreciate it, and preserve the heritage of it. Keep up the great work!!!