Books on Medieval & Renaissance Furniture:
Authors A-L
Ball, Richard and Peter Campbell.
Master Pieces: Making Furniture from Paintings.
New York: Hearst Books, 1983.
There are some interesting designs here, including an unusual Italian armchair. Unfortunately, the techniques and materials given in the instructions are modern, rather than period.
Berendsen, Anne Albertina Johanna.
Het meubel van Gotiek tot Biedermeier.[8. herziene druk]
Hilversum, W. de Haan;
Antwerpen, Standaard-Boekhandel, 1967.
220 p.
In Dutch. General history of furniture from c. 1350 to 1850. I don't read Dutch, so I can't comment on the text. The plates in the back include approximately 55 from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance although there are only a few that you won't find elsewhere. There are a few Dutch pieces that I haven't seen anywhere else.
Bishop, Robert and Patricia Coblentz.
Furniture 1: Prehistoric through Rococo.
New York: Cooper-Hewitt Museum, c1979.
127 pp.
General work on furniture history. Medieval section is OK, but short. Out of print, but cheap and commonly available.
Blanc, Monique.
Le Mobilier Français: Moyen Âge,
Renaissance. [French Furniture: Middle Ages, Renaissance]
Paris: Massin, 1999.
In French. This book appears to be the successor to Burkhardt's work (q.v.). The section on technique looks really interesting (still have to translate it).
Boccador, Jacqueline.
Le Mobilier Français du Moyen Age a la
Renaissance.
[French Furniture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance]
St. Just en Chaussée: Éditions d'art Monelle Hayot,
1988.
342 pp. ISBN: 2903824134
A large format book whose strength seems to be in the pictures rather than the text. The pictures are great, though. Lots of full page color shots of objects.
Bode, Wilhelm von.
Italian renaissance furniture.
New York, W. Helburn, c1921
48 p. plus 36 p. of plates.
An illustrated guide to Italian furniture. Very much like a shorter version of Schöttmuller (q.v.) and using many of the same photographs.
Brunschwiler, Josef.
Stilkunde für Schreiner.[Style Guide for
Cabinetmakers]
Hannover: Schafer, 1991
292 pp. ISBN: 3887462637
Burckhardt, Monica.
Mobilier Moyen age, Renaissance. [Furniture Middle Ages,
Renaissance]
Paris, C. Massin, 1977.
81 pp.
Lots of nice color photos of pieces in restored room settings. I'm still working on deciphering the text. I'm starting to get the suspicion that a lot of the "restorations" owe more to imagination than to history.
Cescinsky, Herbert.
English Furniture from Gothic to Sheraton.
New York, Dover, 1968.
406 pp.
ISBN: 0486219291
Dover reprint of a 1937 original. One of the standard references on English furniture, but extremely dated. Cescinsky's illustrations are good, but don't believe him when he credits work to wandering foreigners. Be wary of his dating too.
Champeaux, Alfred de
Le Meuble.
Paris: Quantin, 1885
2 v.
In French. A general history of European furniture from Antiquity to the mid-19th Century. I've reproduced some of the illustrations from the book in the Gallery section of the site. Some interesting information on the history of the Paris Joiners' Guild.
Chinnery, Victor.
Oak furniture. The British tradition : a history of early
furniture in the British Isles and New England.
Woodbridge, Suffolk : Antique Collectors' Club, 1979.
618 p. ISBN: 1851490132
A truly wonderful work that focuses on middle-class British furniture from 1500 to 1720. Extensive notes and diagrams on styles, materials, construction methods, and the social context. There are also a number of illustrations and construction diagrams for earlier pieces. I'm still reading through this book, a longer review will appear when I'm finished.
Colsman, Edla.
Möbel: Gotik bis Jugendstil. Die Sammlung im Museum
für Angewandte Kunst Köln.
[Furniture: Gothic to Art Noveau. The Collection of the Museum for
Applied Art, Cologne]
Stuttgart: Arnoldsche Verlag, 1999.
ISBN:3925369082
In German. The furniture catalog of Cologne's Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Museum for Applied Arts) stretching from the 14thCentury to the early 20th. Each piece receives a full page description with a large black and white photograph. Sidebar notes for each piece include dimensions, materials, provenance, and bibliographic references. Of the 274 pieces in the Catalog, 39 are from the "Gothic" era and a further 59 from the Renaissance and Mannerist periods. It is interesting to note that much of the 18thand 19thCentury "Bauernmöbel" (Country Furniture) is very close in form to Gothic and Renaissance pieces.
Diehl, Daniel.
Constructing Medieval Furniture: Plans and Instructions with
Historical Notes.
Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1997.
A lot of people really hate Diehl's books. Part of the problem is that Diehl's "Historical Notes" rely heavily on the older generation of English furniture historians such as Cecsinsky and Macquoid - work which has been supplanted in the last 25 years or so by a more accurate information. This means that several of the statements he makes are wrong. Another potential problem is that a large number of the pieces he is reproducing are themselves reproductions rather than originals.
Diehl, Daniel and Mark Donnelly.Medieval Furniture: Plans and
Instructions for Historical Reproductions.
Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1999.
ISBN: 0811728544
See above. The comments for Diehl's previous work apply to this one as well.
Dietrich, Gerhard.
Schreibmöbel: vom Mittelalter zur Moderne
München :Keyser,c1986.
231 p. :
In German. A history of desks and other writing furniture. Fairly brief section on Medieval and Renaissance pieces.
Eames, Penelope,
Furniture in England, France and the Netherlands from the 12th
to the 15th Century
London: The Furniture History Society, 1977.
303 pp. ISBN: 09053335026
Eames has selected a limited number (51) of pieces that are undisputedly of medieval origin and analyzes each piece in great detail. Along with the descriptions of each piece each section contains a description of the furniture type along with numerous excerpts from period sources illustrating its social and political context. One of the major weak points of the book is its focus on furniture from a purely art history perspective. There is very little information on construction or materials.
Edwards, Ralph.
The Dictionary of English Furniture: From the Middle Ages to the
Late Georgian Period.
London, Antique Collector's Club.
ISBN: 185149037X
One of the standard reference works on English furniture. Has a number of good articles on medieval and Renaissance pieces scattered throughout it. Some good pictures, albeit small. One problem with this book is that many of the articles have not been updated since they were originally written in the 1920's. This means that there are some assertions about early furniture that are contradicted by current scholarship. Commonly available in the reference collections of large libraries.
Erlande-Brandenburg, Alain, Pierre Yves Le Pogam, and Dany
Sandron.
Musée national du Moyen Age - Thermes de Cluny: Guide to
the collections.
Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1993.
ISBN: 2711820718
A guide to the Cluny's collections. The furniture is primarily 15thcentury with some earlier pieces.
Feduchi, Luis.
Spanish Furniture
New York: Tudor, 1977
313 pp.
Spanish furniture from the Romans to the Present. Decent coverage of the Medieval period, and better coverage of the Spanish Rennaissance. Interesting pieces include an early writing chest and a 16th Century folding campaign table.
Félice, Roger de.
French Furniture in the Middle Ages and under Louis XIII.
London: W. Heinemann ltd., 1923.
Translated by F.M. Atkinson. 152 pp. ill. ISBN: n/a
A general overview of period French furniture, not great, not bad. The text is quite dated and shouldn't be relied on. There isn't anything here you won't find somewhere else.
Feulner, Adolf.
Kunstgeschichte des Mobels.
Frankfurt am Main : Propylaen Verlag, 1980.
396 p., [440] p. of plates
ISBN: 354905212X
Reprint of a 1927 work. In German. Covers the development of furniture from an art history perspective, with an emphasis on German furniture. Interesting chest of drawers dating to 1458. Good photos and illustrations.
Fillet, L'abbé de.
Le Mobilier au Moyen Âge : Dans le Sud-Est de la
France
[The Furniture of the Middle Ages: From the Southeast of France].
Paris: Mem. His(?) a la Sorbonne, 1898.
In French and Latin. This appears to be an article extracted from an academic journal. I'm going to need to do some research to find its origin. The article consists primarily of extracts from 14thCentury wills from the Southeast of France that contain references to household furnishings. I'll have to find someone to do the Latin translation for me.
Fligny, Laurence
Le Mobilier en Picardie 1200-1700
Paris(?): Picard, 1990
358p. 700 ill
ISBN: 2708403907
In French. A large format book covering the history of Picard (roughly the area between Paris and the Belgian border) furniture from 1200-1700. Copiously illustrated with many examples. The end of each chapter includes useful illustrations of hardware and construction details.
Garside, J.T.
Old English Furniture: I. The Oak Period 1500-1630.
London, Batsford, 1924.
A copiously illustrated work on Tudor through Jacobean furniture. Some of the illustrations need to be used with caution since they are not provenanced. The most useful section are the examples of moldings and inlay work in the back, but I really wish the author had identified the sources of his drawings.
Geck, Francis J.
French Interiors and Furniture: The Period of Henry II.
Boulder, CO, Stureck Educational Services, 1985.
117 pp.
Contains detailed drawings of moldings and construction details, but not much else of use.
Hildred, Alex
"The material culture of theMary Rose(1545) as a fighting
vessel: the uses of wood" in Redknap, Mark, ed.Artefacts from
Wrecks: Dated Assemblages from the Late Middle Ages to the
Industrial Revolution. Oxford: Oxbow, 1997.
ISBN 1900188392
A survey of the different types of wooden artifacts from theMary Roseand the woods used to produce them. A couple of interesting pieces, including a folding stand.
Horbas, Claudia.
Mobel der Renaissance im Weserraum.
[Renaissance Furniture of the Weser Region]
Marburg: Jonas, 1995.
245 p. ISBN: 3894451793
Jenning, Celia.
Early Chests in Wood & Iron.
London: HMSO, 1974.
A brief work with pictures and description of 11 English chests in the collection of the Public Record Office. The chests date from the 13th to the 17th Centuries. Each chest has several paragraphs of description and on good sized photograph.
Kjellberg, Pierre.
Le Meuble Francais et Europien du Moyen Age a Nos
Jours.
[French and European Furniture from the Middle Ages to the
Present].
Paris: Editions de l'Amateur, 1991.
591 pp. ISBN: 2859171134
A standard work on the history of French furniture.
Klatt, Erich
Die Konstruktion alter Möbel
[The Construction of Old Furniture].
Stuttgart: Deutsche-Verlags Anstalt, 1998
6 ed. 189 p. ill. ISBN: 3421031932
In German, French, and English. A detailed look at the construction
of several pieces of furniture mostly from German-speaking areas.
Included are measured drawings, cut away diagrams, and numerous
photographs of related pieces. It would probably be worth getting
for the pictures alone. The book concentrates most heavily on the
18th and 19th Centuries, but the following pieces are relevant to
our period:
Alpine Chest, about 1500
Lower Rhenish Chest, early 16th Century
South German Chest, about 1600
Treasure Chest, first half of the 17th Century
Ulm Renaissance Cabinet, first half of the 17th Century
German Table, 17th Century
South German Table, 17th Century
Italian Collapsible Chair, 16th Century
Note that no instructions are provided with the drawings so
duplicating the pieces in this book is an exercise for someone with
at least some woodworking experience.
Kovalovszki, Julia.
Gothic and Renaissance Furniture.
Budapest, Magyar Helikon, 1980.
88 pp.
Pictures and descriptions of pieces from the Hungarian National Museum. The descriptions include the wood the piece was made from (mostly oak, but also lime, pine, ash, and beech). About the only source I've seen on Eastern European medieval woodwork.
Kreisel, Heinrich.
Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels: Bd. I, Von der
Änfangen bis zum Hochbarock.
[The Art of German Furniture: Vol. 1, From the Beginning to the
High Baroque]
Beck, 1968.
402 pp. 696 ill.
ISBN: 3406079644
In German. A dense scholarly tome that covers the history of German furniture. Heavily illustrated and footnoted. The pictures are the best part of the book. They are clear and there are several close-ups that show construction details. There's a lot of good information in the text too, but it's not an easy read. This book has just been reprinted and the individual volumes are now available separately (which means it's only expensive instead of completely unaffordable).
Leixner, Othmar von.
Einfuhrung in die Geschichte des Mobiliars und die
Mobelstile.
[Guide to the History of Furniture and Furniture Style]
Leipzig : Reprintverlag Leipzig, 1998.
196 pp. ISBN: 382621207X
Contents © 2003 Gary R. Halstead