Illustrated History of Furniture

Illustrated History of Furniture, by Frederick Litchfield, runs from the earliest to the present time, with numerous illustrations, and carries the year 1893. The preface says the author has placed before the reader an account of the changes in the design of Decorative Furniture and Woodwork, from the earliest period of which we have any reliable or certain record until the present time. The preface adds that a careful selection of illustrations has been made from examples of established authenticity.

One section describes the chairs of Chippendale and his school as very characteristic, and says Chippendale's are cut open into fanciful patterns. A drawing of a chair in York Minster, and two more throne-like seats on a full-page illustration, serve to show the best kind of ornamental Ecclesiastical furniture of the fourteenth century. The text names the small round occasional table, called a gueridon, the encoignure, or corner cabinet, and the étagère, or ornamental hanging cabinet, with shelves.