I have recently gotten more and more interested in the design aspect of making furniture and I would like to know what historical reference books people find useful. I am looking for books with lots of pictures and some discussion of the best designs from the 1700s and 1800s. Federal, Queen Ann and Chippendale styles are of particular interest.
What books do you find yourself pulling off the shelf either for inspiration or to solve a design/construction puzzle?
Chris
Replies
A good start would be Wallace Nuttings Treasurys (Three volumes methinks). They should be in most public libraries so I am told. These and I reference Ernest Joyces' Encyclopedia of Furniture Making together.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 10/13/2009 6:16 pm ET by KiddervilleAcres
Well, if you'd like "inexpensive" and "good" (two words that don't go together much in antique furniture books - they're mostly pretty expensive to exhorbitantly expensive if they're out of print), I'd recommend Montgomery's "American Furniture at Winterthur: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods" and "American Furniture at Winterthur: Federal Period".
These were written in the 60's, so a lot of the photography is black and white, but the pieces are superb, and there's hundreds of them in these books.
Also, "The Fine Points of Furniture" by Isreal Sack has just been re-printed for about the 30th time, so it's inexpensive. Again, this book is mostly black and white photos, but Isreal does a superb job of explaining why a piece is just "good" or is a "masterpiece". A follow-on book by his son, Harold Sack, is even better - most of the photos are in color. This one's called "The New Fine Points of Furniture" and was published in 1996. It's out of print and sought-after, so it may be fairly expensive.
The two Wintertur books have been reprinted by Shiffer and are available online for about $30 each.
Dick Dare
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