This book documents Shaker furniture from communities in New England, Ohio, and Kentucky throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Free-standing tables, chairs, desks, boxes, and case clocks and built-in cupboards and cases of drawers are included. The text provides a detailed account of Shaker history, culture, and religion. Further, it examines Shaker design and tools, reporting new research on the Shaker color palette.

A comprehensive, amply illustrated guide illustrates the simple, functional furniture style developed during the Shaker movement--a successful experiment in communitarian living--and traces its evolution from the Colonial styles of New York and New England

Over 250 photographs and measured drawings for over 80 classic Shaker designs: cradle, dry sink, trestle table, lap desk, rocking chair, many more. 262 halftones. 140 black-and-white line illustrations.

Clearly a labor of love and a definitive reference. The attribution of chairs as Shaker and the association of a chair with a particular community is based on the authors' consideration of oral tradition, provenance, place of discovery, visual examination, evaluation of design features, historic photographs, and information found in written sources. Abundantly illustrated with carefully chosen photos and purposeful drawings. 9x12" Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Reaching an apogee of 6,000 members in the years just before the Civil War, the Shaker movement was the most extensive, enduring, and successful utopian society ever established in America. Leaving Manchester, England, in 1776 to avoid persecution, the Shakers crossed the Atlantic and during the next 50 years established 19 villages from Maine to Kentucky. The Shakers were guided by the principles of utility, honesty, and order in both their work and worship, and this belief system influenced the physical expression of the goods they produced for use at home and for sale outside their communities. This lovely book presents a wide array of extraordinarily fine examples of Shaker furniture, household objects, textiles, religious drawings, and items made to sell to the "world's people" (non-Shakers). The book's expert contributors discuss Shaker design in relation to the furniture they constructed, the products they sold, their gift drawings and spirituality, and their rejection of American Fancy design. The book also considers the powerful inspiration Shaker design has provided for diverse modern and contemporary designers, including George Nakashima, Roy McMakin, Thomas Moser, and Scandinavian furniture makers.

This beautifully documented, authoritative overview of the Shaker form and function showcases the 200-year-old sect's eloquent, minimalist style, which blends seamlessly into today's modern design aesthetic. Includes Shaker-style architecture. 175 full-color and b&w photos.

Rev. ed. of: The new fine points of furniture.1993.