The Windsor Style: A Pictorial Study of the History and Regional Characteristics of the Most Popular Furniture Form of Eighteenth-Century America, 1730 - 1830

Philadelphia, PA: Running Press, 1981. Hardcover. G/G- (foxing along textblock, all pages clear and intact - foxing inside dust jacket and smudging on front). Forest green cloth, white pictorial dust jacket. xiv, 215 pp. 17 color, 271 bw plates, with a few in color. "In recent years, no form of American furniture has so sparked the interest of collectors, antiquarians, and connoisseurs as Windsor furniture ... Here is a book that, in a lovely style, details both the history of the form and the regional characteristics that make American Windsor furniture the collector's prize today. Turning an artist's eye on Windsor chairs, settees, tables, stools, cradles and more, renowned illustrator and collector Charles Santore has written a book that will be a revelation to virtually all admirers of American antiques. Using hundreds of photographs, some in color and most of them commissioned especially for this book, Mr. Santore shows precisely how each type of American Windsor evolved, how each fits the styles of its time, what makes one Windsor better than another, and how the reader can use this information to date, evaluate, and determine the origin of Windsor furniture in his or her possession. To make the photographs as clear as possible, the book has been printed on the finest quality of paper. Some of the unique features of this book also include: detailed photographs of the earliest American Windsor, unavailable in any other book; information on paint surfaces, authentication, fakery and reproduction; a section of questions most frequently asked about Windsors, answered by the author; a checklist of Windsor makers, and a portfolio if exquisite, detailed drawings by Mr. Santore." - desut jacket description.