The ''Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide'' is a famous antiquarian
book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...
, reference book, and non-fiction work. Many
cabinetmaker
A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (s ...
s and
furniture designer
This is a list of notable people whose primary occupation is furniture design.
A
* Alvar Aalto (1898-1976)
* Eero Aarnio (born 1932)
* Robert Adam (1728-1792)
* Thomas Affleck (1745-1795)
* Franco Albini (1905-1977)
* Davis Allen (1916-1999)
* ...
s still use it as a ready reference for making period
furniture
Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...
or designs inspired by the late 18th century era. Historians of domestic life or the
History of Technology
The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques and is one of the categories of world history. Technology can refer to methods ranging from as simple as stone tools to the complex genetic engineering and info ...
use it for establishing context for their research. Finally, collectors are willing to pay a good sum for the original editions.
The sub-title on the original edition is ''Repository of Designs for Every Article of Household Furniture, in the Newest and Most Approved Taste''. This may vary, depending on the edition and the printing.
In a technical sense the book is only attributed to
George Hepplewhite
George Hepplewhite (1727? – 21 June 1786) was a cabinetmaker. He is regarded as having been one of the "big three" English furniture makers of the 18th century, along with Thomas Sheraton and Thomas Chippendale. There are no pieces of furnit ...
as author since it was published after his death and the original title page bears the name "A. Hepplewhite and co.", for
Alice Hepplewhite
Alice may refer to:
* Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname
Literature
* Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll
* ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...
, his widow. Very little is known of George Hepplewhite's life, unlike that of the other two great British cabinet makers of the period
Thomas Sheraton
Thomas Sheraton (1751 – 22 October 1806) was a furniture designer, one of the "big three" English furniture makers of the 18th century, along with Thomas Chippendale and George Hepplewhite. Sheraton gave his name to a style of furniture characte ...
and
Thomas Chippendale
Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779) was a cabinet-maker in London, designing furniture in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. In 1754 he published a book of his designs in a trade catalogue titled ''The Gentleman and Ca ...
. We do have information that suggests Hepplewhite was born in 1727 in Ryton Parish, County Durham, England.
The
Dover Books
Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books ...
edition which is the main one discussed here, was done as a facsimile of the 3rd edition of the original, "of 1794". According to other sources the third edition of the original book came out in 1790, after the first and second editions of 1788 and 1789.
This book was reprinted several times over the centuries. One of the most common editions, apart from the Dover one, was made in
elephant folio
Paper size standards govern the size of sheets of paper used as writing paper, stationery, cards, and for some printed documents.
The ISO 216 standard, which includes the commonly used A4 size, is the international standard for paper size. I ...
size by the
Towse publishing company of New York, in 1942.
At 28cm high the Dover edition is nearly half the size of the 47cm of the elephant folio sized Towse edition and much smaller than the 36cm of the original edition. The Towse edition also has 88 pages of photographs of furniture done according to the designs in the book. The 128 plates are all monochrome, as in the original.
It is not known if the designs in it are his own or copies from others, since (unlike Chippendale) he was not famous during his life and no piece of furniture can be traced with certainty back to his workshop. The neoclassical designs in it usually have tapered legs and a variety of contrasting veneers. On the whole this kind of furniture has a relatively delicate look. The designs cover the usual chairs, tables, desks and cabinets. They also cover clock cases, library steps and other objects which came out of the cabinet makers' shop of that era. The book was very influential on cabinet makers in the eastern parts of the US during the whole of the 19th century.
The Dover edition (1969, paperback, ) is still in print and also available used at about half the price of the new book. The Towse edition is available from specialty book dealers for about ten times the price of the new book. The original edition is also available, for about one thousand times the price of the new book.
The complete text with the plates is available for download in various formats fro
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1788 non-fiction books
Handbooks and manuals
History of furniture
Woodworking mass media