Thomas Chippendale (Shire Library)

This handsome, hardback book provides photographs and a page or two of commentary on a range of Chippendale furniture. It also provides a short account of Chippendale’s life and gives an glimpse of his clients and the houses for which the furniture was made. The colour photos are clear, with some close ups, and the commentaries are well-informed and readable rather than dry and academic. This book is ideal for general readers with an interest in furniture and sits nicely beside Judith Goodison’s recent Life and Work of Thos Chippendale Jnr. It’s a bit pricey but, as in so much of life, you get what you pay for.

Worth buying for the colour photos —something lacking in Gilbert’s 1978 biography. Text is crisp and readable too.