The Cabinet Maker’s Guide; Or, Rules and Instructions in the Art of Varnishing, Dying, Staining, Japanning, Polishing, Lacquering and Beautifying Wood, Ivory, Tortoiseshell & Metal. With Observations on their Management and Application.

London, printed for Knight and Lacey and Dublin, for Westley and Tyrrel, 1825. ‘A New Edition’. 12mo. (xvi), 223pp, [1]. Illustrated with a copper-engraved frontispiece and four engraved diagrammatic plates bound at the end of the text. Page edges uncut. Attributed to George A. Siddons and with the introduction signed with the initials G.A.S. A scarce and for such a small book, very detailed tradesman’s manual covering many techniques and receipts for the finishing and refurbishing of cabinet work as well as applied techniques for various types of ornamental items. The chapters include: Cabinet Work (making glues and pastes, preparing wood for finishes, making and maintaining tools, removal of marks and bruises in furniture and reputedly, the first ever printed instructions for making glass paper), Dying Wood (receipts for mixing various colours), Staining (receipts for mixing and applying various stains to imitate a range of woods, staining horn to imitate tortoise shell, staining ivory), Staining Musical Instruments (receipts for various colours), Varnishing (techniques, receipts for a wide range of varnishes), Japanning (techniques and a range of receipts for colours), Polishing (polishing varnish, inlays, brass inlays, ivory, pearl, marble, tortoise shell), French Polishing, Cleaning (including removing ink, grease, and wax spots from furniture, cleaning carpets and ormolu), Silvering (for mirrors), Bronze Painting, Gilding (in gold, silver and in lacquer), Buhl Work, Cements, Turning, Lines (drawing and calculating cutting lines), Soldering and a Miscellaneous chapter that includes making waxes, furniture oil, working in ivory, leather tops for furniture, making tracing paper, decorating clock faces etc etc. A truly comprehensive and wide ranging work aimed squarely at the working tradesman. One page has a small later receipt for treating wormed furniture cut from a newspaper and pasted onto its lower margin, with its text copied in ink onto the lower margin of another page. Though the book is noted as a ‘new’ edition on the title page, Worldact does not reference an earlier edition of this work, though a work with a similar title authored by Peter Weber is noted as having been published in 1809. Possibly, this edition is a rework of that publication ascribed to a different author. Later editions of this work were published in 1827, 1830 and 1837. Bound in recent half calf with marbled endpapers and gilt lettering to the spine.This is a well-used copy as is to be expected of this type of practical reference book. There is an ink or dye spot in the middle of the frontispiece which is also lightly water-stained, the title page is dust soiled and lightly stained and there are a small number of individual pages that are dust soiled and/or lightly marked from handling or spillage. The four plates at the end of the volume have a light oil stain affecting their gutter, one is a little chipped at its foredge and the last two have been reinforced at their gutter edge. Nevertheless, a complete and mostly clean copy of a scarce work with the text block sound and the binding in very good condition. Further photographs available on request. NB The price of this item is variable dependent on your chosen payment method. Please feel free to make contact for further information and to request additional photographs of this item or to discuss payment options. Size: 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.…