The New York herald., 1921-12-18
More Than Sticks
In Old Furniture

THE PRESENT STATE OF OLD ENG
LISH FURNITURE. BY r. w. Sy-
monds. Frederick a. Stokes Com
pany.
A LMOST every one has corner
IA somewhere in his mentality
: that admits of interest In the
furniture of his forefathers, whether
he be thing -minded"or Idea minded
in the terms of one psychologist. This
practical handbook on old English
furniture is one which is not only in
valuable to collectors but which must
be of interest to all persons who care
for beautiful things. Between It's
covers there Is packed a world OF in
formation. The jacket copy, unlike
most blurbs, tells the truth about its
contents. "The book contains 1t
says IAN outline of the history of Eng
lish furniture from the earliest times
70 the end of the great eighteenth
century period; a discussion of the
essential qualities of design and pro-
portion which give exceptional value
to the best pieces; and an expert eX-
animation of the present condition OF
antique furniture which will enable
collectors to distinguish genuine un-
touched specimens from those which
/ have been touched up or are alto
gether fakes. The book embodies the
practical wisdom acquired by the au-
thor during many years of furniture
dealing. rs he himself says, if he had
had the information he is able to put
into this volume when he started to
buy he would have been saved from
nearly every mistake he has made"
Interesting as this statement is, we
believe there is no book that can pro-
vide guarantee against errors, now
ever it may be able to minimize them
The author might not have made the
same mistakes, it is true, but he would
probably have made others of diff
ferent brand. Also, it is safe to say
that the reader will make them
fewer perhaps, but still some-whether
he reads the book or not. The in
trinsic value of the book is rather In
| the fact that it is rich in material,
well assembled and that its presenta-
ton is vital Also the book is beauti-
| fullv illustrated. There are ninety
six photographs of some of the most
| valuable extant pieces of English fur
niture which show both the highest
qualities of design in the finest pieces
| and their present state.
In this brief survey of English fur
niture are considered the color and
surface condition of the wood the de-
sign, proportion and ornamentation
and the quality of workmanship. The
| individual vicissitudes of old pieces
necessarily differ so much that the
quality of color and surface condition
| to-day vary greatly. The standard of
design in old English furniture was
generally high, sometimes mediocre
and very seldom bad Fashions in
| furniture as in all else have changed
with the years. Articles used by our
| forefathers are no longer in vogue.
| They are scrapped by this generation
along with outworn ideas on Ireland
and India. labor and the rest. Much
of the old furniture designers success,
il seems, lay in the fact that they set
out first to design piece of furniture
| to supply a human want and then
considered how it might be beautified
| by decoration. They decorated con-
struction, it is pointed out, instead of
constructing a decoration. For in
furpiture, as in all else, overorna-
mentation defeats its own object.
Furniture that has definite indi-
viduality is naturally of greater in
| trinsic value.
Examples of the Gothic oak furni-
| ture are practically unprocurable to-
day. One of the photographs shows
an oak Golfer, carved with conven-
tional floral design and having these
words inscribed across the keyhole:
''This is Esther Hobson Chist, 1851"
| Imagination cannot fail to picture the
quaint fond hopes which Esther Hob
son packed into this "chist" of hers.