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"I know of no other writer on the subject who analyses it so thoroughly or defines it so graphically ... Mr. Kirk provides specific pointers for training the eye and guiding the mind ... Essential for the collector's library." Antiques Magazine This is the first paperback edition of "the best book on the subject" (San Francisco Examiner), John Kirk's now classic guide to Early American furniture, the unique handbook originally published in a hardcover edition at $17.50, that helps both the amateur and the professional to distinguish the truly beautiful, "important" piece from the merely old. With a clear, concrete text and a lavish use of pictures (more than 200 plates) that juxtaposes "great" antiques with those of lesser aesthetic value, Mr. Kirk identifies, illustrates, and analyzes the hall- marks of fine craftsmanship, from the seventeenth century to the classical revival two hundred years later. Considering, in turn, the four basic furniture groups - high-style, country, primitive, and rustic - he shows us, point by point, how to recognize the proportions, workmanship, and "small details" that mark the work of a master, how to see furniture as an art form, and how to identify the period and region in which a given piece was made. With its recommendations of specialized areas for the beginning collector, with its clues to the recognition of fakes, reproductions, and restorations, with its expert advice on the refinishing and care of both painted and unpainted surfaces, John Kirk's Early American Furniture will add immeasurably to the confidence - and genuine expertise - of the antique hunter. |
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