Book Puzzle Boxes

One for the Books

Book Puzzle Boxes by Bill Sheckels

It’s time to reach for a good book. We love books at Boxes and Booze headquarters, and puzzle boxes compete for space on the bookshelves with them here. Monday Aug 9 (2021) is National Book Lover’s Day, which is cause for celebration, and calls for an apropos special offering. There are many books about puzzles, and even books specifically about puzzle boxes. Of course, there are also puzzle boxes about books. I have a whole page dedicated to them on this website. The first book box I ever wrote about (or is it puzzled about?) was actually my introduction to a wonderful woodworker and lovely man, American furniture maker Bill Sheckels. Bill also enjoys making puzzles, and has published a small library of volumes to date.

Go ahead, judge these books by the cover

That first Book Box of Bill’s was more of a prequel, inspired by a similar box he found in “Puzzles in Wood” by Edwin M. Wyatt. He only made three or four, out of walnut, cherry and ash. The book is beautifully made, by the way, and cleverly locked, but Bill was really just getting started on his stories at that time. You might say it’s the oldest trick in the book series. Since then he has published a trilogy written in wood. The “Original Book Puzzle Box” (Book 2) is actually the second generation book, an evolved version of Book 1, rendered in figured makore, walnut and ash, with a more complex plot than its predecessor. You might say he rewrote the book on it. Bill made about 40 copies of it over two production runs. It was an instant best seller and led to two more in the series. Books 3 and 4 were smaller in size than Book 2, and featured novel design elements detailed on the spines and using a variety of beautiful new woods. Book Puzzle Box 3rd Generation has the solid inlay on the spine and features a secret drawer. Bill made about 50 of these over two runs. The 4th Generation Book is distinguished by the three inlays on the spine and Bill has made about 30 of these so far. These new books were also gripping tales full of new surprising twists and turns that could never have been guessed at from having read the earlier books in the set. You might say Bill really threw the book at these, unless you are tiring of things you might say. If the fourth book leaves you wanting more, don’t despair - there is rumor of a fifth book in development. All of the books are unique and highly enjoyable reads deserving of the … Puzzlister Prize.

American Trilogy by Richard Boccato and Michael McIlroy

The toast for this trilogy comes by way of an American classic. The cocktail, no matter what the historians have to say on the matter, is surely an American invention. Without a doubt we certainly popularized the concept, which had its heyday in pre-prohibition New York and other cities. Fine cocktails only recovered from Prohibition’s lasting effects quite recently, around the turn of this century. A small bar in lower Manhattan named Milk and Honey was one of the pioneering establishments that quietly led the cocktail renaissance by reviving lost recipes and insisting on high standards and quality ingredients, thank to its legendary proprietor Sasha Petraske.

Good old fashioned American classic

Milk and Honey alumni Richard Boccato and Michael McIlroy have both independently created many well known modern classic cocktails. While working together at Little Branch, Sasha Petraske’s follow up bar to Milk and Honey, they came up with this American homage to the original classic cocktail, the Old Fashioned. Featuring three distinctly American ingredients, their American Trilogy is a subtle twist on the theme. Rye whiskey, which by law must be made with at least 51% rye grain in the mash, was the predominant type of whiskey consumed in the pre-prohibition era. Applejack, a type of apple brandy mixed with neutral grain spirit, is one of America’s oldest spirits, popularized by America’s oldest distillery. It doesn’t get any more American that this. The orange bitters bring the drink back into the modern American cocktail era. They were developed from an old recipe from Charles Baker, Jr. by beloved mixologist Gary Regan. Stir one up (Gary “Gaz” Regan was famous for using his index finger to stir!) and open up a good book this week. Cheers!

This cocktail is by the book

American Trilogy by Richard Boccato and Michael McIlroy

1 oz rye

1 oz Applejack, bonded

1 brown sugar cube

2 dashes Regan’s orange bitters

Muddle the sugar cube and bitters in the bottom of an Old Fashioned glass. Add the whiskeys and ice and garnish with a strip of orange peel fashioned into a bookmark.

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