A Field Guide to Antique Furniture

Rating:
Summary: Concise and clear field guide - lots of good practical info
Review: An excellent guide. This is a very well organized book containing style guides, some recommendations as to recognizing woods, finishes, and lots more. The bulk of the book contains a straight-forward guide to furniture organized according to type, origin, and age. There are plenty of very good illustrations, including a middle section in colour. Definately a book that is handy to bring along when you are antique hunting. The only slight criticism is that it seems to be very English/US based, i.e. would have liked to have seen more material on e.g. Italian and French items (although this is broadly covered in the 'European' section).

Rating:
Summary: good book
Review: This book has lots of pictures, black and white as well as color. All pictures are crisp and clear, and there are some drawings sprinkled in to get certain specific details. It covers European, English and New World styles and it definitely has a lot in it. It has dates as well as information of how the style would have looked in say the 1750s, then how it may have been changed slightly in the 1800s, and then how it was changed again in say the 1850s. They tried to do a price guide (which I ignore) in the back but thankfully they only put in a few pages of that (prices are out dated before the books get to print). Overall, a neat refernce that has some good history (e.g. wash basins were first introduced in the 1740s when hygene became more of a priority) The only thing I wish the book had was more discussion of reproductions since we see more and more of that all the time.

Rating:
Summary: good book
Review: This book has lots of pictures, black and white as well as color. All pictures are crisp and clear, and there are some drawings sprinkled in to get certain specific details. It covers European, English and New World styles and it definitely has a lot in it. It has dates as well as information of how the style would have looked in say the 1750s, then how it may have been changed slightly in the 1800s, and then how it was changed again in say the 1850s. They tried to do a price guide (which I ignore) in the back but thankfully they only put in a few pages of that (prices are out dated before the books get to print). Overall, a neat refernce that has some good history (e.g. wash basins were first introduced in the 1740s when hygene became more of a priority) The only thing I wish the book had was more discussion of reproductions since we see more and more of that all the time.

Rating:
Summary: Very good.
Review: Very good book for those in the field. Illustrations and explanations make it easier to understand the decorative arts.