Chippendale, Thomas | The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director

Chippendale, Thomas.

The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director. London: Printed for the Author, 1762

Folio (272 x 442 mm). Engraved dedication, 200 engraved plates by Darly, Foster, Taylor, Cloues, Miller and others after designs by Chippendale; foxing and dampstaining throughout with a small tear to the middle of the outer edge of plates 3-24 with no textual loss. Contemporary calf; upper and lower covers detached, binding worn.

The third - and arguably best - edition of Chippendale's groundbreaking furniture pattern book.

The Director was intended to function as a trade catalogue. This edition contains an additional 39 plates not found in the previous editions of 1754 and 1755, and was the last edition to be published in Chippendale's lifetime. The third edition began to appear in installments in 1759, and was completed in 1762.

Although Thomas Chippendale's famous pattern book, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, was first published in 1754, and reissued the following year, it was only with a greatly enlarged new edition in 1762 that it had a serious influence in America, particularly in Philadelphia. Several copies are known to have been available there during the 1760s and, not surprisingly, Chippendale's richly carved style had a pervasive influence on local cabinetmaking" (Heilbrunn). The Director principally depicts four of Chippendale's most famous styles: English, French rococo, Chinoiserie, and Gothic, and was extensively used by furniture makers.

The first and most important published book of furniture designs in 18th century England.