Kimball's Book of Designs: Furniture and Drapery.
1876
Medium
Illustrations: lithographs
Dimensions
13 5/8 x 17 5/8 x 11/16 in. (34.6 x 44.8 x 1.8 cm)
Classification
Books
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.589
Art Historical Context
J. W. Kimball’s *Book of Designs: Furniture and Drapery* (1876) offers a fascinating window into late-nineteenth-century American taste. Published as a practical pattern book, it provided furniture makers, upholsterers, and homeowners with illustrated suggestions for chairs, sofas, window treatments, and other domestic furnishings. Its appearance in 1876 coincides with the rapid expansion of the American middle class and a growing interest in creating comfortable, stylish interiors. The volume’s illustrations, executed as lithographs, were ideally suited to this purpose. Lithography allowed f...