Upholsterers and interior furnishing in England, 1530-1840

by Geoffrey W. Beard

"This richly illustrated history of the upholstery trade in Britain over three hundred years surveys the changing styles that affected this art form, the craftsmen who made the furniture and the kings and courtiers who purchased it. In all the great houses and palaces of Britain and at the important events that shaped British history - the weddings, funerals, coronations and visitations of the monarchy and aristocracy - upholstery played a leading role." "Dr Beard, an eminent authority on the lives and working methods of craftsmen in the decorative arts, brings his wide knowledge of the historical background of furniture making and usage to bear on this significant branch of furniture history. He moves chronologically, setting the activities of upholsterers and their patrons against the wider panoply of English history, and describes, for example, the early upholstery done on the instructions of the important agency controlling work for the crown, the Great Wardrobe; the archaic tradit