EXTRAORDINARY FURNITURE

Discusses and illustrates furniture that is considered remarkable for its extravagance, design, craftsmanship, inventiveness, or uniqueness

By no means has furniture received its aesthetic due. We sit and laze, sleep and work, within a variety of cushioning styles, yet we rarely give tables, chairs, sofas, and beds a second or third thought. Leave it then to a professional English furniture maker, who crafts with words as well as woods, to uncover and weave true tales of approximately 60 furniture pieces, each unique for its grandeur, design, craftsmanship, innovation, and materials. Color photographs as finely detailed as the works themselves show front, full, and side views, accompanied by portraits of the original owners (when known), other period documentation, and, of course, fascinating bits of history. Where else would a 100 percent crystal glass sideboard, the Dolphin suite commissioned for Mr. Fish (no joke), and Antonio Gaudi's wonderfully wacky art nouveau dressing table and chairs be collected in one place? Not so subtly, Linley (nephew of the British queen) also uses this as a showcase for his own one-of-a-kind productions. Barbara Jacobs