The cabinet makers' sketch book: a series of original details for modern furniture

Abstract

First edition, a rare book. Not included in the extensive list of design books analyzed by Edward Joy in his Pictorial dictionary of British 19th century furniture design (but he does mention it in passing in his entry on Blackie’s Cabinet-maker’s assistant [which was also by P. Thomson]). The Cabinet makers assistant is included in the bibliography by Jeremy Cooper, “Victorian furniture, a guide to the sources,” but the present work is not. A few of the designs reflect French influence. The furniture forms are wide ranging and include a few pieces of upholstered seating furniture, beds, door panels, and ornamental detail. Several plates and a section of the text are devoted to drawing in perspective. I suspect, but cannot prove, that this work is of Scottish origin. It is dedicated to Charles Trotter of Edinburgh. The credit line at the foot of the plates is about evenly divided between William Mackenzie, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London and William Mackenzie, Glasgow & Edinburgh. (Charles Wood, cat. 167, # 64)