The Cabinet-Maker s Guide: Or Rules and Instructions in the Art of Varnishing, Dying, Staining, Japanning, Polishing, Lackering and Beautifying Wood, Ivory, Tortoise-shell and Metal. With Observations on their Management and Application

[Siddons, G. A.?]

Published by [Greenfield, Mass.] : London: Printed for Knight and Lacy, Paternoster-Row. Greenfield, Mass. Re-printed by Ansel Phelps, and for sale by him, at his bookstore, --also by West & Richardson, Cummings, Hilliard & Co. Boston; and Wilder & Campbell, New-York, 1825

About this Item

Hardcover. 16mo, original printed blue boards, title printed at spine. 108 pp. Publisher s ad on back board. Pencil notes and drawings on front and rear endpapers. Recent half green morocco and green cloth slipcase. CONDITION: Very good, paper cracked at hinges but holding firm, moderate wear to extremities, one leaf with a closed tear (no loss of text). A beautiful copy in original boards of the first printing of the first furniture finisher s manual published in the United States, reprinted from the first British edition of the same year. Described on the title-page as a "New Edition, with considerable Additions," this first American edition provides concise instructions on the application of varnish and stains, dying woods, inlaying, laquering, glue-making, japanning, polishing, etc. The work had enormous influence. According to Robert Mussey, the author of the introductory essay for the Dover reprint edition of 1987, it went through at least fourteen editions as well as more than seventy pirated editions. Mussey also observes that the actual authorship is uncertain, suggesting several possibilities. The traditional attribution to Siddons is from the title-page of an 1837 London edition. Interestingly, Greenfield was also the place of publication of Asher Benjamin s The Country Builder s Assistant (1797), the first architectural book authored by an American published in the U.S. REFERENCES: Rink 1793; not in American Imprints.

Seller Inventory # 5772

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Cabinet-Maker s Guide: Or Rules and Instructions in the Art of Varnishing, Dying, Staining, Japanning, Polishing, Lackering and Beautifying Wood, Ivory, Tortoise-shell and Metal. With Observations on their Management and Application
• Publisher: [Greenfield, Mass.] : London: Printed for Knight and Lacy, Paternoster-Row. Greenfield, Mass. Re-printed by Ansel Phelps, and for sale by him, at his bookstore, --also by West & Richardson, Cummings, Hilliard & Co. Boston; and Wilder & Campbell, New-York, 1825
• Binding: Hardcover
• Seller catalogs:
  • Art, Architecture & Design
  • Early American Imprints
  • Americana