New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-12-06

below and glass door incosfng the shelves soove
These permanent and inexpensive rcceptaeics apou''.
In New-England, and are introduced into hundreds VI
houses by architects now.
Chairs Injuries in the first part OF the seNc'-
teenth century owing TO the fm establishment oi JUN.
stools and benches Turned chairs were among the his'
to be used Dr. Lyon gives plate OF the presioeh's
chair at Harvard one OF the finest OF carry 'urhe"
chairs II is OF English make. and its rarity may be
gagged from the fact that over hundred years ago
collectors were trying buy chairs like II In England
Horace Walpole wrote to George Monagu in 116l as
follows:
Dickey Bateman has picked up whole fl9 ,ss%
one by one here and there I'm farmhouses, for three
and crpwp apiece They are Eco o. "sded
up and down Cheshire, too II Mr.. and Mrs. weien-
hall rs they ride or drive out. would now and then
pick up such chair 1t would obligc me greatly"
The great body OF seventeenth century turned
chairs I'm America not so fine rs the Harvaru
chair, but they still simple and attractive The
seats usually OF flags. The average New-Eng-
lander Of that time not given to cushions for
film. to Carye's phrase, the upholsterer was no
ponti brocaded and leather bottomed chairs were
found only in the dwellings OF the rich. Easy-cairs
did not appear until the eighteenth century. Cane
for seats and backs introduced at about the same
time. Stability and simplicity were chiefly aimed Mt
by the colonial makers. In 1888 Thomas Chippendale
fashionable LOndOn caDlnetmaHcf, puDfisncu DUN
of designs for furniture. Lightness and Gle
gance were the principal characteristics Of his
chairs and these qualities were quickly cul
tvated in American shops. Heppelwhte end
sheraton, later London makers reinforced the Chip
pendae influence, with some slight notifications, and
kept it alive until well into the present century.
Chippendale was fond Of bandy-legs with claw-feet
his chairs legs which DR.. Lyon fnds were used in
China as far back 254 A. ID. Heppelwhte and
sheraton eschewed the bandyleg and claw-foot, and
adopted perfectly straight plain legs instead.
DR.. Lyons most valuable contribution TO the
history OF chairs relates to the sturdy yet graceful
Windsor chairs. The English have tradition that the
original chair OF this pattern made by shepherd
living near Windsor Castle. 1t Is said that George
III found It, fanced It, had 1t copied and made It the
rage. Dr. Lyon holds that IL this story is true
land he is inclined TO credit England with
the origin OF the chair the dscoverer must have been
George III and not George III. for Windsor chairs
were in use In America before the latter was born
The first Windsor chairs heard OF here were Ave be-
longing TO Governor Patrick Gordon, who came to
Philadelphia in 1895 and died ten years later For
nearly thirty years nfter Governor GOrdon's death
Windsor chairs appear To have been restricted to
Philadelphia. In 1865 Andrew Gauteir OF New-fork,
advertised in The New-York Gazette that he had
for sale "a large and neat assortment OF Windsor
chairs and from this time on they waxed fnmPus
The manufacture OF Windsor chairs grew to be
Scotland, Conn, advertised In "The Connecticut
Gazette" for tourneyman to the Windsor Chair and
Cabinet business Joiner OF Philadelphia offered
4" Windsor chair plank for sale. All through New
England, as we'll In NewYork and Pennsylvania,
Windsor chairs and settees, high backd, low-backd
and sackbackd" were produced in response TO con-
SANITY increasing demand They were comfortable,
cheap and strong. Daniel Lawrence, OF Providence,
informed the respectable Public" Of his town, In
1897, that his Windsor chairs were so firmly put
o@ a not 70 ts Of h Windsor chairs
o; that period were painted green one OF Dr. Lyons
Ahcher question Of origin + raised BY Dr. Lyon
In connection with the Introduction Of MAHOGANY;
has claimed precedence. The only use made OF
mahogany there before 1920 was for medicinal Pnrs,
come panks sent him from the West Indies, and hay
ing several left over from his experiments pro S.
carpenters complained that the wood was TOO har ior
their tools and the panks Ters reec d L ssS
lnetmaker was shown the planks lying In the garden
He repeated the objection OF the carpenters. INC
tools, and upon doing ris the cabnetmaker SUGGESTED
box Of
furnitnrc made Of few Of the remaining planIs and
tbs en- in IN lso o. IN 7os Sroshsn Mahogany
skreana is entered In the Inventory Of john
Charles Pme joiner Of The
time shows that he had kept mahogany
pldnkS III sIOck DclOIe Itoc
of drawers bedsteads and tables made In Rhla-
dephla long before Mrs. Gibbons candle-box burst
upon the world. -,
Dr. Lyons researches have led him to consider chests
of drawers DESKS tables and clocks as well as chests,
and chairs OF all these articles OF furniture
he gives numerous ana good Illustrations made by
heotype process direct from the objects themselves
in ali lint three or four cases. For designers and
architects the plates constitute tn. first attraction
of the book but the general reader will enjoy the text
and profit by it, II Is full OF odd scraps OF history
and Of that eudiilon which belongs to the modest in
{ ,lligent dettantc. Dilcttanteism has upon halt
acin
worthy addition to the literature OF Industrial art.
This Is one Of the occasions.