N. Hudson Moore

N. Hudson Moore wrote accessible guides to decorative arts and domestic collections at a time when American readers were developing a strong interest in antiques. The Old Furniture Book, first published in 1903, surveys English and American furniture through changing forms, materials, makers, and household uses. Its chapters move from early chests and cupboards to chairs, tables, desks, bedsteads, and later styles, while more than one hundred illustrations help readers compare construction and ornament. Moore combines historical description with the practical eye of a collector, noting how pieces were used as well as how they were designed. Other books under the same name treated old china, pewter, clocks, lace, glass, and silver, creating a broad introduction to objects found in historic interiors. The Old Furniture Book belongs to that connected project of material literacy. Rather than presenting furniture only as elite design, it relates individual forms to workmanship, trade, changing rooms, and the habits of the people who owned them.