Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ...designated by the number of their slats.4hus, "three back," "four back," and "five "back "--the one just shown being a four-back. Figure 107 is a five-back chair in the pattern most often found in New England, dating early in the eighteenth century; and as such chairs are somewhat hard to find, they are more highly prized than those with a smaller number of slats. It belongs to Mr. Meggat. Figure 108 shows a five-back belonging to Mr. Frank C. Gillingham, of Germantown, Pennsylvania, which represents the Southern type of this chair. The arms are high and cut much like those of the wainscot chairs, and the chair is original throughout. Figure 109 is still another slat-back, belonging to Mr. C. J. Burnell, of Hartford, Connecticut, which has cut instead of turned uprights, and belongs to a later date. The hollow cut in the top slat accommodates the head and relieves the very upright position re quired by the straightness of the back. The brass terminals are new. Such chairs as these may have been referred to in a Yorktown inventory of 1745: "6 Ribed back chairs 1." Figure 109. Slat-back, about 1760-70. Another form of chair which had survived from an earlier period was the banister-back chainf a very early example of one, belonging to the Connecticut Historical Society, is shown in Figure no. It wifl be seen at a glance that it is a modification of the cane chairs, combining both the Flemish and Spanish styles in the back, while the under part is decidedly Spanish. The four spindles, curved on the front side and flat on the back, take the place of the cane or leather back, and the carved underbrace of the cane chairs is supplanted by a simple turned one. Figure 110. Banister-back, 1710-20....