Your Cabin In The Woods

For 70 years, readers have been enjoying Meinecke’s classic odes to the simple life, Your Cabin in the Woods (1943) and Cabin Craft and Outdoor Living (1947). For the first time, these books are combined into a deluxe two-colour vintage package, featuring hundreds of charming illustrations by Victor Aures, known for his work with the Boy Scouts of America.

In writing both practical and inspirational, Meinecke details how to turn your dream into a reality, from building plans to choosing land to using tools. However the book’s enduring appeal owes in large part to its warmly engaging tone and firm belief in the restorative power of nature. He delights in the satisfaction of hard work, writing “in the doing you find yourself tired, muscles a bit sore, hands hardened and rough, but you will say over and over again, ‘I did it.’”

Meinecke’s homespun wisdom is a comfort in your toil, “Take full enjoyment in the building. Take time out to rest. Most city folks seem always to rush things through. Why? Lay off until tomorrow. Take an afternoon nap. Stop the clock for the weekend. Get off to an early start in the cool of tomorrow morning. You may be crowded in your work in town, but this should be your rest cure, your recreating. Don’t spoil it by city driving standards.”

Author Biography

Conrad E. Meinecke was a leading figure in the Boy Scouts of America, as well as director of the Boys’ Home of the Buffalo Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He built a number of cabins and detailed his experiences, as well of love of nature, in these time-honored classics. He died in 1971.

Victor Aures was a painter and illustrator, best known for his work in the 1940s on the Handbook of the Boy Scouts of America, Your Cabin in the Woods, and Cabincraft and Outdoor Living. He died in 1974.