Thursday, November 19, 2009

The Two-Bit Chair Design

In November 1880, New York's Adams and Bishop Company advertised a 25-cent Eastlake Chair Design in The Ladies' Floral Cabinet and Pictorial Home Companion. Named after British architect and designer Charles Locke Eastlake (1836-1906), chairs such as this were very popular in late nineteenth-century Britain and the United States. Eastlake's Hints on Household Taste in Furniture, Upholstery and Other Details (U.K., 1868; U.S., 1872)* disseminated his style to a wide audience.

Adams & Bishop of New York published patterns for DIY household items, including the chair shown above. For 15-25 cents, interested parties could purchase these individual designs; for $6.75, folks could purchase the entire 8-volume collection, containing approximately 1,000 different patterns.

Come and see the new CHAIRS exhibition in the Southeastern Architectural Archive.....

Image above from The Ladies' Floral Cabinet and Pictorial Home Companion (November 1880), p. vi. Paid advertisement for Adams & Bishop's "Latest Designs." Adams & Bishop, 46 Beekman Street, New York. The Garden Library of the New Orleans Town Gardeners, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

*Tulane's Special Collections Division retains a copy of the 1883 Boston edition.



1 comment:

Paper Research said...

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