My WW is leading me toward period furniture and I'm more and more interested in Federal style. I've plenty of books on Queen Anne, Duncan Phyfe, etc, but am really looking for Federal stuff, more late 18th century to turn of the 19th century. Especially anything by John and Thomas Seymour. Any books, plans, pics, leads, etc. are appreciated. I'm googled out. Hardly any books exist strictly for Federal furniture that I have found. I have one pic of a Seymour sideboard from Glen Huey's "Fine Furniture for a Lifetime" and I think it's one of the sharpest pieces I've seen in some time. I plan on building it soon, but would like some inspiration for other Federal pieces. I'll post a scan of the sideboard at APBW so everyone can get the idea of what I'm talking about. Thanks, --dave
There was a book called "The Furniture Masterworks of John & Thomas Seymour" but I haven't actually seen it. Dover has reprinted a lot of good ones - Hepplewhite's "Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide" and Sheraton's "Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book" would be 2 important ones - there's an old Zen saying, "Don't imitate the masters; learn what they learned" and a lot of Federal syle pieces can be traced right back to those
2 books. Some of the old measured drawing books have some nice federal pieces: Gottshall's "Making Antique Furniture Reproductions", Margon's "Construction of American Furniture Treasures", Salamonsky's "Masterpieces of Furniture in Photographs and Drawings" all have some nice pieces dimensioned. Smiths's "Old Furniture: Understanding the Craftsman's Art" has some close-ups of details. There are a lot of picture books that show some nice pieces, often with overall dimensions, so it's easy to draw the pieces using a pair of proportional dividers: Comstock's "American Furniture" has a lot of pieces in small b&w photos. Flanigan's "American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection" is one of my favorites, with excellent photos & overall dimensions of really outstanding pieces. Another favorite is Fales' "American Painted Furniture 1660 - 1880" with a lot of photos of some very nice forms, even if the decoration isn't to your taste.
Many of these books are no doubt out of print, but it would be well worth checking some of the on-line used booksellers for them, IMO.
Thanks Timothy for that list. I am/was an avid woodworker hobbist, including old style furniture, but my disability disallows me to be as active, in that department, as I once was. For the past few years I have been taking formal upholstery classes, at the local Tech school, and your list provides some very interesting references about upholstery. Recently, I've been learning advanced caning techniques, also. For me, upholstery has become a good complement to and recourse from woodworking, alone,.... and it's fun, too.
Simply, thanks for the references. I had stagnated in my own search for something more than what I have at hand. There had been times when I thought to query this forum, but upholstery, and related issues, didn't seem to be on topic.
Some of my favourites of the books that aren't impossibly out of print. There's also the Dover press reprint series of things like Chippendale and Sheraton's own handbooks.
American Furniture of the 18th Century Jeffrey Greene ISBN 1-56158-104-6
(Lee Valley carry it too) A truly excellent book on the whole century, right up to the Federal period
Queen Anne Furniture Norman Vandal ISBN 0-942391-07-1 Taunton Press
Queen Anne rather than Federal, but there's an awful lot in here on techniques.
In the 18th Century Style Fine Woodworking / Taunton Press ISBN 1561583979
Making Period Furniture Fine Woodworking / Taunton Press ISBN 0918804302
How to Design and Construct Period Furniture Franklin Gottshall ISBN 0-517-02263-X
Hard to find, but worth seeking out. A broad-ranging book in period, it has some excellent content on style and proportions of classic designs.
Carving Architectural Detail in Wood Frederick Wilbur ISBN 1861081588
Bit of an odd title, but as well as the carving guidance it's also an excellent background to the sense of Classical proportion that underlies most 18th century architecture and furniture design.
Classic Finishing Techniques Sam Allen Sterling Publishing ISBN 0806905131
Although this is also a competent text on general finishing, the real interest of this book is in its historical recipes for old processes and mixtures. If you're looking for the use of alkanet root or dragon's blood and you don't fancy wading through the old references yourself, this is the book to read.
Sadly out of print and almost unavailable, snap a copy up whenever you see one. Prices are steep though. Easier to find than Robert Dossie's period "Handmaid to the Arts" though!
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