The "Trade" Journals, too, have contributed their influence by publishing drawings of work completed, suggestions for their readers to carry out, and also by illustrated notices of the different exhibitions which take place from time to time.
The "Cabinet Maker and Art Furnisher," edited by Mr. J. Williams Berm, M.P., L.C.C., contains "Pen and Ink Notes by the Editor," which should be useful, as they are certainly instructive; and a number of good designs are published month by month, in "Furniture and Decoration." These are contributed by J. W. Bliss, R. A. Briggs, A.R.I.B.A., H. L. Chalmers, Owen W. Davis, Lewis F. Day, Edwin Foley, Christopher Gill, Bertram Goodhue, Ernest George and Peto, A. Jonquet, Felix Lenoir, Letharby, Wilbert Rattray, Stenhouse, John Turner, Frank Ward, A. H. Wolf, and the editors themselves—Timms and Webb.
In the "American Sketches" published in this Journal, we see the kind of work which is being designed and carried out in the United States. Designs of furniture and interior fittings of the houses of American millionaires, drawn by Cauffmann; Frank Colburn, of Morristown, New Jersey; Sanford Phipps, and James Thompson, of Boston; Ross and Marvin, of New York, shew that there is no distinctive American style, but that the revival in taste, which has been alluded to in England, has found its way to America, and from the number of articles of furniture still called after Mr. Eastlake, it is evident that the teachings of that gentleman had considerable effect. The "Furniture Gazette," "The Builder," and "Building News" also publish designs of furniture and woodwork.
The disadvantages, inseparable from our present state of society, which we have noticed as prejudicial to English design and workmanship, and which check the production of really satisfactory furniture, are also to be observed in other countries; and as the English, and English-speaking people, are probably the largest purchasers of foreign manufactures, these disadvantages act and re-act on the furniture of different nations.
In France, the cabinet maker has ever excelled in the production of ornamental furniture; and by constant reference to older specimens in the Museums and Palaces of his country, he is far better acquainted with what may be called the traditions of his craft than his English brother. To him the styles of François Premier, of Henri Deux, and the "three Louis" are "classic," and in the beautiful chasing and finishing of the mounts with which the French bronziste ornaments the best meubles de luxe, it is almost impossible to surpass his best efforts, provided the requisite price be paid; but these amounts are, in many cases, so considerable as hardly to be credible to those who have but little knowledge of the subject. As a simple instance, the "copy" of the "Bureau du Louvre" (described in Chapter vi.) in the Hertford House collection, cost the late Sir Richard Wallace a sum of £4,000.
CARVED FRAME, BY RADSPIELER, MUNICH.
As, however, in France, and in countries which import French furniture, there are many who desire to obtain the effect of this beautiful but expensive furniture, but are unable to spend several thousand pounds in the decoration of a single room. To meet this demand, the industrious and ingenious Frenchman manufactures vast quantities of furniture which affects, without attaining, the merits of the better made and more highly finished articles.