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“To unite elegance and utility, and blend the useful with the agreeable, has ever been considered a difficult task... We have exerted our utmost endeavours to produce a work which shall be usefull to the mechanic, and serviceable to the gentleman.” |
| [HEPPLEWHITE,
George]. Hepplewhite, Alice. The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s
Guide; or, Repository of Designs for Every Article of Household
Furniture, in the Newest and Most Approved Taste: Displaying a Great
Variety of Patterns… in the Plainest and most Enriched Styles; with a
Scale to each, and an Explanation in Letter Press. Also the Plan of a
Room, Shewing the Proper Distribution of the Furniture. The whole
exhibiting near Three Hundred different Designs, engraved on One Hundred
Twenty-Six Plates. London: I. And J. Taylor, 1788. Folio, late
nineteenth-century red crushed morocco gilt, elaborately gilt-decorated
spine, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. $17,000.
Extremely rare first edition, complete with 126 plates, of one of the most important works in furniture design. “Hepplewhite's style and reputation rest on his Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide (1788), which contained nearly 300 designs for furniture and other furnishings… Simplicity, elegance, and utility characterize the designs in the Guide. Many pieces were intended to be made in inlaid satinwood, others in mahogany or with japanned decoration. Chairs with straight tapered legs have shield-, heart-, and oval-shaped backs, incorporating urns, festoons, cornhusk chains, and other typical Neoclassical motifs. Upholstered settees of serpentine form, window seats with scrolled arms, and small square- and circular-topped inlaid tables and bookcases with delicate tracery in the glass doors also characterize the graceful Hepplewhite style” (Britannica). As no piece of furniture designed by Hepplewhite’s firm has survived, the Guide is the sole accurate source of information about his style. Published by George Hepplewhite’s wife, Alice, after his death, the Guide was published in an exceedingly small edition in 1788. Its popularity was immediate, with a second edition published in 1789 and a third edition in 1794. Today, the 1788 first edition is remarkably rare. The OCLC cites only five copies in worldwide institutions and there are no records of copies being offered to the public since 1988. Since the Guide was a practical book used by carpenters and designers, it is often found in a well-worn state. The 125 plates (including one double-page plate) in the present copy are in beautiful condition with only a few minor closed tears and repairs to the final (folding) plate. The title page, as is often the case, has been remargined with some loss to the edges (not affecting text). In beautiful crushed morocco binding. A very handsome copy of a most rare and influential first edition. please click images to enlarge:
For examples of Antique American furniture, in the Hepplewhite style, please click here. |
