?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(CABINETMAKING.) Richardson, C. Broadside of the Holley Cabinet Ware House, with related notebook of furniture designs. Illustrated letterpress broadside, 14 x 11 inches; folds, moderate foxing, and edge wear. Notebook: 28, [31] leaves (some blank on verso) of ink and pencil sketches and manuscript notes. 4to, original 1/2 calf, moderate wear; dampstaining to endpapers only. Brockport, NY: A. Edwards, 1835; and np, 1830-33
The broadside advertises Richardson's cabinet-making business in rural Holley, NY, west of Rochester. He advertises that he "will manufacture and keep constantly on hand, a general assortment of mahogany and cherry cabinet furniture," and adds "furniture made to order on short notice." The accompanying notebook shows a provincial craftsman working in the newly fashionable Empire-style designs of the 1830s, with his own variations. Among the more fully executed designs in this notebook are a washstand, stool, dressing tables, and secretaries, each with detailed measurements. Some are titled, such as "French Bureau," "Grecian Card Table," and "Portable Secratary." Some may have been sketched during a trip to York, Ontario (now Toronto), including "York Bureau No. 1 and 2." The book also includes details of carving designs, such as foliage, scrolls, turning profiles, and volutes. In the rear of the volume are several recipes for varnishes and stains, some intended to imitate more expensive materials such as mahogany, curly maple, and marble. Many of these recipes are credited to other cabinet-makers residing in Ontario and northern New England. The notebook is not signed, but was kept between 1830 and 1833, and common provenance suggests it was likely by the same C. Richardson who issued the 1835 broadside in Holley, NY. Provenance: Inherited by the consignor from grandmother Gertrude (Cole) Simmons (1895-1985) of an old Holley-area family; her grandmother was Ellen Maria (Richardson) Cowles (1838-1873), who may have been the daughter of the cabinetmaker.
