Jefferson's fine arts library :: :: University of Virginia Library

THE / GENTLEMAN / AND / CABINET-MAKER'S / DIRECTOR.
/ BEING A LARGE / COLLECTION / OF THE MOST /
Elegant and Useful Designs of Household Furniture / IN THE /

Plate XIV. From No. 25. Engraved title page.

GOTHIC, CHINESE and MODERN TASTE: / Including a great
Variety of / BOOK-CASES for Libraries or Private / Rooms.
COMMODES, / LIBRARY and WRITING-TABLES, / BUROES,
BREAKFAST-TABLES, / DRESSING and CHINA-TABLES, /
CHINA-CASES, HANGING SHELVES, / TEA-CHESTS, TRAYS,
FIRE-SCREENS, / CHAIRS, SETEES, SOPHA'S, BEDS, /
PRESSES and CLOATHS-CHESTS, / PIER-GLASS SCONCES,
SLAB FRAMES, / BRACKETS, CANDLE-STANDS, / CLOCKCASES,
FRETS, / AND OTHER / ORNAMENTS. / TO WHICH
IS PREFIXED, / A Short EXPLANATION of the Five ORDERS of
ARCHITECTURE, / and RULES of PERSPECTIVE; / WITH /
Proper Directions for executing the most difficult Pieces, the Mouldings
being exhibited / at large, and the Dimensions of each Design specified:
/ THE WHOLE COMPREHENDED IN / One Hundred and
Sixty COPPER-PLATES, neatly Engraved, / Calculated to improve
and refine the present Taste, and suited to the Fancy and Circumstances
of / Persons in all Degrees of Life. / Dulcique animos novitate tenebo.
Ovid. / Ludentis speciem dabit & torquebitur. Hor. / BY / THOMAS
CHIPPENDALE, / Of St. MARTIN'S-LANE, CABINET-MAKER. /
The SECOND EDITION. / LONDON, / Printed by J. Haberkorn,
in Gerard-Street, / For the AUTHOR, and sold at his House in St. Martin's-Lane.
/ Also by T. Osborne, Bookseller, in Gray's-Inn; H. Piers,
Bookseller, in Holborn; R. Sayer, Print-/seller, in Fleetstreet; J. Swan,
near Northumberland House, in the Strand. At Edinburgh, by / Messrs.
Hamilton and Balfour: And at Dublin, by Mr. John Smith, on the
Blind-Quay. / M DCCLV.

Folio. Title page in red and black (1 leaf); engraved dedication (i);
preface (iii-vi); list of subscribers (vii-x); description of plates, with
pp. 25-27 misbound (1-27); 160 engraved plates.

The engravers were Matthew Darly (fl.1754-72), English engraver and
caricaturist; Johann Sebastian Miller, or Müller (1715-85), also known
as John Miller and sometimes caled L'Espérance, born in Nuremburg
but working principally in England where he arrived in 1744; and
Tobias Miller, or Müller (see No. 24).

There was only one architect among the subscribers, James Payne.
But four booksellers, one bricklayer, eighty-six cabinetmakers, four carpenters,
ten carvers, one chemist, two engravers, two founders, one
jeweler, thirteen joiners, one merchant, one organmaker, two painters,
one picture-frame maker, two plasterers, two professors of philosophy,
seventeen "upholders," five "upholsterers," and one watchmaker were included.

Thomas Chippendale (d.1779) was born in Worcestershire. By
1752 he had become a cabinetmaker and upholsterer in London, and his
reputation was great enough by 1754, the date of the first issue of his
Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, that his book was stocked by
booksellers in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. This edition (1755) is
the second, and the third was published in 1762. Its contents are well outlined
on the title page.

By 1793, however, the book had gone out of fashion. Sheraton said
of it at that time that "as for the designs themselves, they are now wholly
antiquated and laid aside, though possessed of great merit according to
the times in which they were executed" (DNB).

Chippendale must have been rather used to disparaging statements,
though he did not live to hear Sheraton's, for he says at the end of his
preface:

Upon the whole, I have here given no design but what may be executed with
advantage by the hands of a skillful workman, tho' some of the profession
have been diligent enough to represent them (especially those after the Gothic
and Chinese manner) as so many specious drawings, impossible to be work'd
off by any mechanic whatsoever. I will not scruple to attribute this to malice,
ignorance and inability: And I am confident I can convince all Noblemen,
Gentlemen, or others, who will honour me with their commands, that every
design in the book can be improved, both as to beauty and enrichment, in the
execution of it by

Their Most Obedient Servant.

Thomas Chippendale.

Just as his plates begin with an examination of the orders, so we
find him placing the relation between architecture and cabinetmaking
first in importance in his preface:

Of all the Arts which are either improved or ornamented by Architecture,
that of Cabinet-making is not only the most useful and ornamental, but
capable of receiving as great assistance from it an any whatever. I have therefore
prefixed to the following designs a short explanation of the five Orders.
Without an acquaintance with this science, and some knowledge of the rules
of Perspective, the Cabinet-maker cannot make the designs of his work intelligible,
nor shew, in a little compass, the whole conduct and effect of the
piece. These, therefore, ought to be carefully studied by everyone who would
excell in this branch, since they are the very soul and basis of his art.

Chinese adaptations permeate the book, even in furniture designated
Gothic or French, as in Plate XVII on the frets of "French Chairs."
It is especially strong in Plates XCIII, CX, CXI, CXV, and CLVII-CLX
(see Plates XV and XVI). The three plate descriptions that follow are

Plate XV. From No. 26. "China Case" (No. CX).

Plate XVI. From No. 26. "Chinese Railing" (No. CLX).

typical and may very well have strengthened Jefferson's interest in
Chinese forms:

Plate XCIII. Is a Chinese cabinet with drawers in the middle part, and two
different sorts of doors at each end. The bottom drawer is intended to be all
in one; the dimensions and mouldings are all fixed to the design. This Cabinet,
finished according to the drawing, and by a good workman, will, I am confident,
be very genteel. [P. 19]

Plate CXI. A China Case, not only the richest and most magnificent in the
whole, but perhaps in all Europe. I had a particular pleasure in retouching
and finishing this design, but should have much more in the execution of it,
as I am confident I can make the work more beautiful and striking than the
drawing. The proportion and harmony of the several parts will then be view'd
with advantage, and reflect mutual beauty upon each other. The ornaments
will appear more natural and graceful, and the whole construction will be so
much improv'd under the ingenious hand of a workman, as to make it fit to
adorn the most elegant apartment. [P. 22]

Plates CLVII. CLVIII. CLIX. and CLX. A Variety of Chinese railing, very
proper for gardens and other places, and may be converted (by the ingenious
workman) to other uses. [P. 27]

Jefferson sold his copy to Congress, an edition which Kimball incorrectly
called the third, saying Jefferson had acquired it after 1789. The
copy now at the University duplicates Jefferson's and is the gift of the
Class of 1952. Jefferson did not order it for the University.

Sowerby 4221

*NK2542.C5A3