The history and construction of 18th century American furniture is examined in this critical evaluation that looks at the topic both from an aesthetic and technical point of view

FURNITURE FOR THE GENERATIONS As a woodworker, you've no doubt admired examples of classic furniture. You know, the stuff that makes you go, "Wow! I wish I could build that." Now you can. Glen Huey, senior editor at Popular Woodworking magazine, takes you through each and every step of how to build 18th-Century furniture. And when you're done, the projects will last for generations. Complete plans, cutting lists and step-by-step photos with captions are included with each project. Here are some of the furniture pieces you will learn how to build: Massachusetts Block-Front Chest Pennsylvania Chest-on-Chest Chippendale Entertainment Center New England Chest & Bookcase Townsend Newport High Chest Federal Inlaid Table Shaker Small Chest of Drawers Massachusetts High Chest (highboy)

Presenting 10 projects -- from shaping the surface through layout to rough carving and detailed carving -- this guide explains the process of carving authentic motifs found on the most treasured pieces of 18th-century American furniture. Written with a two-pronged approach, the book first emphasises that these are learned skills and offers guidance while, secondly, providing all the complex details that serious carvers need to reproduce each element with confidence. Selected for their importance and popularity on museum-quality pieces, projects include the cabriole leg, Philadelphia-style ball and claw foot, carved foliage on knee, Philadelphia rosette, and Newport flame finial, among others.

Published to coincide with the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of Thomas Chippendale, England’s most famous cabinetmaker, this issue of the Bulletin addresses the history of Chippendale works at The Met. Morrison H. Heckscher recounts the designer’s meteoric rise from rural obscurity to the heights of the London luxury trade, crediting that remarkable success to the publication of the Chippendale Director, an instructive book on furniture design and ornament. The text analyzes the Museum’s rare collection of drawings by Chippendale, revealing a gifted and highly imaginative designer who mastered what today would be called branding. Illustrating a wide selection of the Director drawings alongside furniture inspired by the Director or actually made in Chippendale’s shop, this Bulletin features works of art that attest to the museum’s century-long infatuation with drawing, prints, books, and furniture in the Chippendale style.

"English joiner John Head (1688–1754) immigrated to Philadelphia in 1717 and became one of its most successful artisans and merchants. However, his prominence was lost to history until the author’s discovery of his account book at the Library of the American Philosophical Society. A find of great historical importance, Head’s account book is the earliest and most complete to have survived from any cabinetmaker working in British North America or in Great Britain. It chronicles the commerce, crafts, and lifestyles of early Philadelphia’s entire community: its shopkeeping, cabinetmaking, chairmaking, clockmaking, glazing, metalworking, needleworking, property development, agriculture, botany, livestock, transport, foodstuffs, drink, hardware, fabrics, furnishings, household wares, clothing, building materials, and export trade. Jay Robert Stiefel, historian of Colonial Philadelphia society and its material culture, presents the definitive interpretation of the John Head account book and introduces many other discoveries. The culmination of nearly 20 years of research, this new volume serves as an essential reference work on 18th-century Philadelphia, its furniture and material culture, as well as an intimate and detailed social history of the interactions among that era’s most talented artisans and successful merchants. Profusely illustrated and in large format, the book includes a foreword from furniture historian Adam Bowett and an introduction by historian Patrick Spero, Librarian and Director of the American Philosophical Society Library" -- Provided by publisher.