Bookcase raffle benefits Friends of Brooks Memorial Library

BRATTLEBORO — The Friends of Brooks Memorial Library will hold a raffle for a locally designed and built Colonial pine bookcase.

Tickets for the raffle will be available at Brooks Memorial Library through Saturday, Dec. 13.

Donated to the Friends by local craftsman Paul Rodrigue, this bookcase is handmade of pine cut from nearby Alstead, N.H. The bookcase is 44 inches tall and 24 inches wide. The traditional dovetail joints are all hand-cut.

The warm, honey pine finish is the result of multiple hand-rubbed layers of carefully applied finish. The five shelves are spaced to hold contemporary, standard-size hardback and paperback books. The bookcase is on display in the library.

Rodrigue, who has been working with wood for more than 13 years, learned his trade from a New Hampshire timber framer and furniture maker. Rodrigue's woodworking is mainly in the Colonial style and includes large and small pieces of furniture.

Rodrique is also an outpatient mental health therapist at the Brattleboro Retreat.

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