New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-12-19

i've Styles and Periods Described and nlustrat-
co BY Esther singleton Illustrated from origi-
Mcclure Phillips & Ce.
TIE OLD FURNITURE BOOK. With Sketch
Win 10 5IIustrst.ops. svo Do. "a Frederick
A Stokes Company.
TIE ORIENTAL RUG. a Monograph on Eastern
Rugs and Carpets, Saddle Bags, Mats and Phi,
lows. With Consideration of Kinds and
hos efc Toge,heT WITH some PRACTICAL Advice
70 Collectors BY w. D. Ellwanger sVo' PIP
OLD LONDON SILVER Its History It's Makers
and Its Marks. BY Montague Howard With
2oe Illustrations and over 1000 facsimles 81
Charles scribaer's Sens.
CHINESE PORCELAIN. BY E. G. GulIand. With
notes ny I. J.. Larkn, and al Illustrations ar
SIS. Imported by Charles scribner's Sons.
No household Of the present day has any
valid excuse for living in the decorative dark
ness beloved Of our more or less immediate fore
fathers. His, or perhaps should say her,
resources for making a home beautiful have
been Of late years steadily Increased In the
first place more furniture. wall papers. carpets,
and so on artistically designed, are available
now than was the case not so very long ago.
and. furtherTnors. the education Of the public
taste has been aimed at, not simply in exhibit
lions or in books about painting, sculpture and
architecture, but in books intended to show the
reader how he may beautify the environment
in which his everyday life is passed Among
such publications Miss Frenchs volume Homes
and Their Decoration" must take honorable
rank II IS, indeed the best book Of the kind
thus far brought out. for it is addressed to
readers Of moderate means-the readers who
most in need OF such guidance as it offers
and It is all compact OF good taste and common
sense The author is wholly free from that
vague enthusiasm which sn comparatively re
cent years. has led thousands Of well meaning
individuals to crowd their homes with ''pict-
ureseue" odds and ends under the strange inn
preston that IL q sitting room IN an apartment
house is made TO look like a studio of the con-
ventional sort It cannot but be charming. Miss
French impresses upon her readers that they
must base the decoration Of a home on the
actual requirements OF the family. She would
teach them TO be artistic by teaching them to
be practical and she is herself admirably prac-
ticaI. making only suggestions Of the kind
easily carried out in the average American
house or apartment. She neglects no phase Of
her subject paying as careful attention to
Kitchens and bathrooms 10 drawing rooms
and libraries one Of the best things in her
beck is the picture, with full explanation sc-
conpanying IT, Of a scheme for the attachment
Of q movable basin in a small bathroom lack
ing & stationary basin, which we are sure has
only 70 be made widely known to become
widely popular
Her ideas, without ever being audacious
make steadily for freedom from routine and
what can only be described as superstition in
decoration Thus she offers a protest against
that devotion to red which for some mysteri-
Gus reason is everywhere so difficult TO eradi-
cate. 1T is not necessary she says, Ito in
treduce red into house to create an impress
sion Of warmth though this color is often-and
wrongly-employed for that purpose" good
red is one of the hardest colors in the world to
find. Thousands Of homes in this country have
been made hideous because the people living in
them have a fixed idea that red is not only
warm oelor But q safe" one It is. as a mat
ter Of fact. an extremely dangerous color to
trihe with. that has to be most carefully
guarded against, lest it lure the householder
into decorative discord AS Miss French says,
"a with white panelled walls. green car
pets and hangings, may be made more sug-
gestive Of warmth by the introduction of grow
ing plants than by all the red hangings in the
world We are glad to this reference to
the artistic usefulness Of plants, which. indeed,
the author judicously remarks on another
page. ARE beautiful anywhere" A handsome
rubber plant or palm is. in fits way decora-
tive in a house as any piece of furniture could
be. Miss French has a good chapter the
decorative possibilities in plaster casts, which
have too often been neglected by writers in her
field. The point is Characteristic. Throughout
she IS al pains TO make il clear that one need
not be = millionaire in order to make house
beautiful. Her book is copiously illustrated
with half tones from photographs and with line
drawings
The claim which Miss Singleton makes for
her French and English Furniture is a bold
one hut it IS amply justified. Many books
have been written she says, about furniture
as 2 whale and the history of furniture es-
pecially the French style: but I do not know
of one that enables the student to learn with
slight expenditure OF time and energy all that
IS necessary TO know in order At UP a room
IN any given style. Anv who wants 10 fur
nish and decorate a Louis Ky boudoir properly
or a Heppeiwhite dining room. or an Empire
bedroom. can find all about ii IN the following
pages" He can do this, and. what is more,
the reader who is moved by no such high am
bition. but wants merely TO know about furni-
ture. can prsit by this volume It Is full Of
facts. set forth in an interesting manner. Miss
Singleton has explored her authorities with
care. accommodating a great mass OF useful data
and she is apt in the introduction Of the anec-
dSte which serves well to save a book Of
this kind from being dry. For example, in ap-
preaching the style Of given period she en-
beavers TO show in a few brief touches what
the social life was like which produced the
style Her account of the period Of Louis XIV
Is particularly good in this respect. But she
Is adequate 10 her task in all her twelve
chapters, which traverse the subject from Louis
XIII TO the Empire in France, and through tie
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Eng
land Her illustrations are from uncommonly
COED drawings by Mr.. H. D. Nichols The only
drawback to the plates. which have been beauti-
fully reproduced. is that not even the briefest
description is attached 70 them; for this one