LOUIS XIII INTERIOR

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The purpose of this work is to provide allwho are interested in French and Englishfurniture since the Renaissance periodwith a comprehensive and detailedview of the various periods or styles. Achapter is devoted to each period, and thechapters naturally vary in size, in accordance with the importanceand length of the different periods. So far as I havebeen able to discover in my researches, there is no work preciselyof the same aim and scope as this one in existence.Many books have been written about furniture as a whole,and the history of furniture,—especially the French styles; butI do not know of one that enables the student to learn withslight expenditure of time and energy all that is necessary toknow in order to fit up a room in any given style. Anyonewho wants to furnish and decorate a Louis XV. boudoir properly,or a Heppelwhite dining-room, or an Empire bedroom,can find all about it in the following pages. The collector,the student, the cabinet-maker, the upholsterer, and even theviiiarchitect will find ready at hand valuable material gatheredfrom many sources. The ceilings, wall-decorations andchimney-pieces proper to each period are described from contemporaryauthorities and illustrated from contemporary picturesand prints. The furniture is described from specimensexisting in many collections and museums; and frequently inthe words of the great makers and designers themselves.

In many instances the collector is forced to buy the survivalsof whatever period he fancies, instead of being able toselect for reproduction the more artistic specimens that haveperished, and his rooms are filled with anachronisms becausehe cannot find articles to complete his set of furniture. Thereproduction of a beautiful model will give more pleasure toa person of taste than a piece of furniture