This valuable work of reference contains over two hundred copper-plate engravings of chairs, sofas, bedsteads, mirror frames, girandoles, torchères or lamp stands, dressing tables, cabinets, chimney pieces, organs, jardinières, console tables, brackets, and other useful and decorative articles, of which some examples are given. It will be observed from these that the designs of Chippendale are very different from those popularly ascribed to him. Indeed it would appear that this maker has become better known than any other, from the fact of the designs in his book having been recently republished in various forms; his popularity has thus been revived, while the names of his contemporaries are forgotten. For the last fifteen or twenty years, therefore, during which time the fashion has obtained of collecting the furniture of a bygone century, almost every cabinet, table, or mirror frame, presumably of English manufacture, which is slightly removed from the ordinary type of domestic furniture, has been, for want of a better title, called "Chippendale." As a matter of fact, he appears to have adopted from Chambers the fanciful Chinese ornament, and the rococo style of that time, which was superseded some five-and-twenty years later by the quiet and more classic designs of Adam and his contemporaries.

Fac-simile of the Title Page of Chippendale's "Director."

(Reduced by Photography.) The original is folio size.

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N. LXXXVII.

T. Chippendale invᵗ. et delins. Publish'd according to Act of Parliament 1769. J Taylor Sculp

FAC-SIMILE OF A PAGE IN CHIPPENDALE'S "DIRECTOR." (The original is folio size.)