English Furniture at a Glance

Artists: Various 
Author: Barbara Jones 
Publisher: The Architectural Press 
Date: 1954 
Condition: A first edition hardback, complete with neatly clipped original dust wrapper over the yellow boards; the wrapper with a few chips and nicks to the edges and a little discoloured along the top edge, but complete apart from a very minor loss to the top of the spine edge. Internally, a little foxing to the flyleaves but otherwise clean and unmarked.

Best known now as the author of The Unsophisticated Arts, a pioneering look at the overlooked folk arts of fairgrounds, circus, shop fronts and canal boats, this small guide to English furniture styles from the medieval to the present day is not only interesting but enlivened by over 200 line drawings Jones made to illustrate the volume. These often include some gentle humour - even on the title page, which is set in a very traditional manner, she includes a drawing of Ernest Race's Antelope chair, then an almost brand new design having been produced for the 1951 Festival of Britain!