English Vernacular Furniture, 1750-1900 (The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)

In this book, an analysis of English vernacular furniture, Christopher Gilbert demonstrates that common furniture possesses as much interest as fashionable pieces made for country houses. Gilbert investigates over 20 well-defined vernacular subgroups including furniture made for workhouses, schools, prisons, Quaker meetinghouses, army barracks, alehouses, lunatic asylums, shops, railway premises, and ships. He also discusses such facets of vernacular furniture making as regional differences in the production of chairs and beds; mainstream cottage and farmhouse domestic furniture; and traditional straw and wicker crafts. Although Gilbert's main focus is on the English vernacular tradition, he also touches on furniture from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. He makes use of provincial "Books of Prices" and various Parliamentary Reports on living conditions that often contain first hand evidence about domestic interiors. The book is aimed at collectors, historians, dealers and the general reader.