Author Description

The Dictionary of English Furniture by Ralph Edwards (1954 Revised Edition) is the most authoritative general work on English antique furniture ever published. The first edition of this work was published 1924-27. It was instantly recognised as the primary reference on the evolution of English furniture from the Middle Ages to the Late Georgian period. It was consistently in demand and soon went out of print. The Second Edition, published in 1954, was entirely revised and enlargedby one of the two original collaborators, Ralph Edwards, who at that time was Keeper of the Department of Woodwork at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He was an outstanding authority, well placed to produce such a mammoth revision. The Dictionary is, within its chronological limits, a comprehensive survey of the whole wide field of English domestic furniture. Later research has added details but the basic body of knowledge remains unchallenged. It remains the standard book referred to in all sale catalogues. In thre