CWG Library Item No. 42
 
This book provides an excellent guide for the furniture collector, and a fascinating socio-historical journey through the centuries. Viewing the sometimes uneasy and sometimes glorious marriage of form and function in the history of the chair reveals the changing aesthetic ideals and aspirations of many periods and cultures, from Tutankhamen to Queen Victoria. Discover what the New Yorkers of the Boston Tea Party sat on, and what the South Sea Islanders perched upon when they greeted Captain Cook, in the same decade.
Full-color illustrations throughout this chronological survey, together with clear, tabulated information on the major period styles, make identification easy. The text addresses the actual structure of the chairs: what woods were used in, say, 17thcentury China or 19th century Scandinavia, and what different kinds of joint hold together Queen Anne and Chippendale dining chairs. With this encyclopedia as a guide, anyone visiting an antique shop or an auction should have little difficulty in dating a chair from the shape of its back or legs, should be aware of reproductions - and vigilant against fakes.
An introductory survey of each century (from the seventeenth to the twentieth) precedes the many illustrated examples, putting into context the vagaries of fashion and the particular development of different cultures worldwide. An Encyclopedia of Chairs is a seamless combination of design history and authoritative reference for the collector.

© Collins Woodworkers Guild