Early English Furniture Books from the Internet Archives
From Herbert Cescinsky and Ernest R. Gribble, Early English Furniture and Woodwork Volume II, p. 203. 1922. (MCMCCII)
The Internet Archive is not so easy to use for us early modernists, but the scans are beautiful, and can be viewed on-line or downloaded as pdfs (in color — so you get the feel of the paper).
English furniture (1907)
Another history of English Furniture from the 1930s. Line drawings and photos. Includes a chapter called “The historical background of design” that links elements in Renaissance art, especially Inigo Jones, to “modern” design impulses. Nationalist bent. pp. 9ff.
Early English Furniture and Woodwork, Vol. 1. p. 56: nice line drawings of English roofs. p.355: chapter on beds and bedsteads. The book is mainly on built-in woodwork (great chapter on stairs and staircases; woodwork and mantels). The bed is the only “movable” (barely?) included.
Early English Furniture and Woodwork, Vol. 2 includes chapters on chests, tables, chairs, and clocks. “Oak buffets” pp. 81ff. Oak table with hinged top, p. 131. Drawings and photos of turned legs from the 17th century. pp. 140ff. Church pews. Oak stool, p. 167. Joint stool, p. 170. “Oak chair-table” (!!), p. 175. Beautiful round yew and fruitwood chair, p. 195. Walnut child’s chair, p. 203. Whole bunch of joint stools, pp. 203-204.
Handbook of Furniture Styles. Not as comprehensive. Includes chapter on Jacobean furniture. Reference to cassone or marriage chests (not painted, apparently). p. 22. Italian Renaissance bellows, too small for use, were collected, p. 23. Medieval England: “Chairs were still few, and were only used on state occasions. They were heavy and majestic” (p. 27). “The common people continued content with the rudest kinds of tables, chests, and stools, with no style at all” (p. 28).
Old English Furniture Chapter on “chairs and sofas.” Great gate leg table, p. 8, Stuart period. Clubfooted gateway table (early 18th century), p. 10. Directions on how to save old furniture from becoming firewood, p. 11. Carved oak flour hutch, p. 19. (Kitchen furniture!!) Interesting on desks and “bible boxes,” which he lists as ‘etceteras’ and not ‘furniture,’ pp. 19ff. Great photo of “the King’s Room,” bedstead with chairs in a great vast space, p. 23. Table top mirror sets up called “toilette glass,” Plates XXX and XXXI. Photo of Dining Room, Old Place, Sussex, p. 30. Beautiful spidery mahagony occasional table, p. 37 (Queen Anne period).
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