The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide; Or, Repository of Designs for Every Article of Household Furniture.
London: I. and J. Taylor, 1788.
First edition. 125 copper-engraved plates (including one bis and one double-page), after George Hepplewhite. [vi], 24 pp. With the ad leaf in the rear. 1 vols. Folio. Later full red morocco by Root & Son, gilt edges, some spotting to covers, minor wear at extremities. Washed. Provenance: Young & Trotter (inscription on verso of title dated 1788) Berlin Catalogue 1233; Brunet III.105. Item #366020
With Chippendale and Sheraton, one of the three great pattern books of the 18th century: "No compendium of furniture designs had appeared since 1762, when Thomas Chippendale issued the third edition of his Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director. In publishing the Hepplewhite Guide the Taylors were filling a yawning gap ... The preface adopts a modest tone: 'To unite elegance and utility, and blend the useful with the agreeable, has ever been considered a difficult but an honourable task.' It stressed the Guide's utility to 'the mechanic', to 'young workmen in general, and occasionally to more experienced ones'" (ODNB).
This example with provenance to Ediburgh furniture makers and upholsterers Robert Young and Thomas Trotter. See Dictionary of British and Irish Furniture Makers, 1500-1914.
Price: $4,000.00 Free International Delivery
