Tennants Auctioneers are delighted to welcome Susan E. Stuart, the well respected Gillows expert, to a Valuation and book signing day, Friday 7th November 2008, at their premises in Leyburn.
Visitors will benefit from Susan E. Stuart’s expertise at this free event, as well as that of our experienced valuers. The acclaimed author will be on hand from 10am – 4pm to assist visitors with their queries and is happy to help identify Gillows furniture and furniture made by other cabinetmakers to the firm’s designs.
Susan T. Stuart’s recently published book, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840: Cabinetmakers and International Merchants; A Furniture and Business History, is the result of over a decades worth of research. It is hard to overstate the importance of the Gillows material in relationship to the history of both British and North American furniture. No other furniture archive covers the same period of time and in as much detail. Important information on a wide variety of topics such as woods and finishes, furniture design developments, business practices, workmen, customers, family, social issues and international events which affected the Gillows firm have been extracted from the letters, sketchbooks and ledgers, and pieced together by Stuart to form an account of the firm’s development and history from 1730-1840.
The book which will be available to purchase, also offers a firm chronology for the development of different types of western furniture. The advice given by Gillows on furniture design and social customs, both to their customers and to their workforce, will be of interest to social as well as furniture historians and curators.
More info www.tennants.co.uk