[Rarebooks] FS: Outpoken 1835 Furniture Design Book

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

>From our new "BOOKS ON FURNITURE" catalog
<http://www.joslinhall.com/Catalog_306.htm>


Brown, Richard. "The Rudiments of Drawing Cabinet and Upholstery
Furniture: comprising Instructions for designing and delineating the
different articles of those branches geometrically and perspectively;
thereby producing the effect each piece will have when executed: and
shewing by a scale the real measures for the workman. Illustrated by
Appropriate Diagrams and Designs, Proportioned upon Architectural
Principles, After the Manner of the Antique, on Twenty-five Plates, each
accompanied with explanatory remarks"

London; printed for M. Taylor: 1835.

First published in 1820, this is one of the most singular and outspoken
cabinetmaking books of the 19th century, and was also the first devoted in
large part to the new Greek Revival style in furniture. An architect and
designer in London, Brown introduced several elements which were to become
Victorian mainstays, among them the rounded form which became so popular
later in the century. He was moved to design, like many others both before
and since, by a dissatisfaction with his contemporaries' work. He deals
with both Chippendale and Sheraton in a single sentence, criticizing their
"trivial compositions... taken from the models of the French school of
about the middle of the last century, now obsolete" and then for good
measure slam dunks Chippendale by further commenting that of the two
Sheraton "is the one most worthy of notice." He has no use, however, for
Sheraton's attempts at delineating a system of geometry for cabinetmakers,
noting his "entangling vanishing points, and crossing the diagrams in a
confused and cobweb-like manner..." (he would not be the first, or last,
to find fault with Sheraton's geometry).

Brown subscribed to the belief that the study of earlier times held the
key to tasteful decoration. He tolerated the Egyptians (whose designs were
"more to be admired for their sublimity than true elegance"), despised the
Romans ("pompous... covered every part of their works with ornaments in
wanton profusion...and render their productions one indistinguishable
mass") and admired the Greeks above all others, "who have displayed a
taste hitherto unequaled, and that fills the enlightened world with
admiration." When dealing with ornament, Brown truly reached his stride.
He laid down the law, stating "All ornaments introduced into furniture
should be rich, graceful and consistent, and not of the vulgar kind: the
passionflower, for instance, is extremely rich, the sun-flower vulgar,
although we frequently see it introduced, with dolphins, shells, and other
incongruous appendages, on the poles of window curtains." He further
advises against use of "serpents and other obnoxious reptiles, to which we
have a natural antipathy."

His imagination was unlimited (Joy terms it whimsical, approaching
absurd): a dressing table should have the decorations of plants which
produce perfume; sofas need decoration denoting comfort, for instance
couch flower and heartsease; for a table for playing cards "perhaps the
mask of Comus, the god of festivals and mirth, will be found to accord.".
Since Brown comments in this vein on every piece of furniture, the book is
quite entertaining reading. The designs include a wide variety of tables
as well as chests, bookcases, seats, sofas, beds and other pieces, and
also several room designs; the pieces are interesting, often very
dramatic. Needless to say, the perspective is perfect. Bound at the back,
but paginated within the sequence of the main book, is "An Elucidation on
the Principles of Drawing Ornaments, Exemplified on Seven Plates", first
published in 1822.

Hardcover. 10"x11.5", xvi + 87 pages, plus 25 + 7 plates. Bound in the
publisher's original printed boards, covers somewhat scuffed and soiled.
Rebacked, with a new, sympathetic spine, and new endpapers. Some light
internal spotting and a little soil. Ex-institutional, with a number on
the margin of the frontispiece and several numbers written on the
copyright page. [31026] $3,000.00




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