University of Massachusetts Press The Book of American Windsor Furniture: Styles and Technologies

Combining comfort, simplicity and craftsmanship, Windsor chairs have long been prized by collectors. Introduced from England in the early 1700s, the Windsor style took hold in America first as seating for the well-to-do and later as the favourite chair of the general population. Included in the Windsor family are stools, tables, settees, high chairs, cradles and candle stands, but the greatest variety is found in the chairs, which range from comb-back to bow-back to step-down versions. Their makers took advantage of the natural properties of different woods for particular components of the chairs, employing hickory, red oak, or ash for bent parts, maple for turnings and pine for seats. This book documents all these features and styles with narrative descriptions and photographs of the 198 pieces under discussion. It also provides 34 full-page drawings (and lists of measured parts) which amateur furniture makers can use as blue-prints for creating Windsor reproductions.