Books on furniture styles

[Nate Perkins]

Hi folks,

I'm interested in finding some books that can help me understand basic styles of furniture ... with the goal of designing my own prior to building it.

Basically I can tell the difference between Greene and Greene versus Queen Anne, but not much more.

Can anyone recommend a good text?

Thinking of: "Encyclopedia of Furniture" by Joseph Aronson "Designers Guide to Furniture Styles" by Treena Crochet "History of Furniture" by John Morley "Complete Guide to Furniture Styles" by Louise Boger

Thanks in advance (and apologies if this may be slightly off topic)

[Groggy]

Nate, I have some reviews here:

[J T]

Mon, Dec 27, 2004, 6:28am (EST+5) n [e-mail] (Nate=A0Perkins) claims: Hi folks, I'm interested in finding some books that can help me understand basic styles of furniture

I'm just guessing here, but you haven't tried a library, have you?

JOAT Diplomacy is the act of saying, "Nice Doggie" till you can find a big rock to bash in his skull.

- Unknown

[Andy Dingley]

American Furniture of the Eighteenth Century Jeffrey P. Greene

Superb historical guide to US 18th century work, and good constructional details for makers (not a project book though).

English and American Furniture (and other titles) Cescinsky OOP for years, but still easy enough to find. Old production values had few photos, but it's a good read and you can find any number of pretty modern books with shiny pictures but no content.

The Shaker Legacy Becksvoort

An excellent book by the leading expert on the Shaker's furniture. The book is in two sections; a historical survey of the Shaker movement, and high quality photographs of museum pieces.

In the Arts & Crafts Style Mayer & Gray

Best "coffee table" overview to the range of Arts & Crafts / Mission styles, from furniture to ceramics. (hard to find)

The Furniture of Gustav Stickley Bavaro & Mossman

Excellent Stickley project guide

Oak Furniture Chinnery

_The_ classic text on early oak furniture, up to the 17th C (Expensive and hard to find)

Chinese Domestic Furniture in Photographs and Measured Drawings Ecke

Don't forget China either. Interesting contrast in styles, very good book

Couple of OOP oldies (common in the UK, not sure about the USA)

Charles Hayward wrote a great many woodworking books, all of which are worth a look. His "English Period Furniture" and "Period Furniture Designs" are good on historical developments. I particularly like "Designs", which is a notebook of drawn pieces - best of all it gives the locations of the original piece, so you can go and study it in person.

The three "Directors" (Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton) are still around as cheap Dover reprints. Not desperately interesting, but worth it for completeness. There are many ancient classic books (especially on finishing) that are to be had from Dover.

I'd be interested in references for a good book on the later Federal period.

[Nate Perkins]

You betcha. My library stocks lots of beginning woodworking books, things like 30 ways to make a dado bookshelf, or Sunset's guide to pine garden benches. I can get specialty books by interlibrary loan, but you have to know which ones to ask for.

Maybe it would help to explain what I'm up to. Lately I'm working on designing some dining room furniture for the house (probably a huntboard, buffet, maybe a china cabinet). I'm looking at designing these from scratch, and since I'm going to look at this stuff for the next 30 years I want to make sure it's done right. What would really help is a book that contains a lot of various photos for different leg styles, different stretcher shapes, various door panel and bead styles, cove styles, finials, etc. That way I can go through the book with SWMBO and have her point out which ones she likes.

Cheers, Nate

[Nate Perkins]

Thanks, Greg!

[Nate Perkins]

Thanks! I will try to grab a copy of several of these, especially the one by Jeffrey Greene. I appreciate your time in posting it and enjoyed looking at your website.

Nate

[Larry Kraus]