Author Description

The second section is a pictorial history of Australian furniture containing over 600 full colour plates illustrating the best and most representative examples of each furniture type. These superb photographs provide impressive evidence of the amount of quality work produced in Australia prior to the mid twentieth century domination of the market by factory-made furniture and imports. Each plate is accompanied by a caption in which the process of the object's attribution has been detailed - drawing on the trained eye of the connoisseur to identify timbers and stylistic features and the documentary evidence of meticulous scholarly research; including contemporary references from newspapers, furniture pattern books and catalogues as well as relevant secondary source material - to give a practical framework for the accurate dating and critical assessment of Australian-made furniture. The dictionary entries in Australian Furniture: Pictorial History and Dictionary 1788-1938 contain over 420 black & white photographs of marks, trade cards and labels as well as collection and bibliographical references. Easy access to such previously unavailable information about antipodean cabinet and picture frame makers will undoubtedly influence the market for Australian furniture and may suggest new directions for collecting in both the public and private spheres. Published as a companion to Nineteenth Century Australian Furniture, in a small edition of 2,000 volumes - each signed and numbered by the authors - Australian Furniture: Pictorial History and Dictionary 1788-1938 is planned as a fully self-contained work of reference.