Designs of Furniture by William Smee and Son, A stock of which is always kept ready for sale, at their cabinet and upholstery manufactory and warerooms, No. 6, Finsbury Pavement, London

Description

Plate 13 in both copies has J Betts, 7 Compton St, Brunswick Square [printer]. For a list of plates present and information on those missing, see Smee archival file MS 2241/2/635 [for C037 copy]. From 1835 William Smee [and son] was based at 6, Finsbury Park. See Dictionary of British and Irish furniture makers (BIFMO), Smee, William etc.


Bedford Collection C085 is another copy: also incomplete, 202 numbered plates, and no title page. Index pasted onto front pastedown.


See also Bedford Collection copy A106, early trade catalogue for William Smee and Son.

Features

Leeds University Library copy at Bedford Collection C037: loose note in John Bedford's hand listing missing plate numbers.


Leeds University Library copy at Bedford Collection C085 (another copy): loose notes in John Bedford's hand listing missing plate numbers with a photocopy of title page, and comparing Potterton copy [Potterton Books, Thirsk??] with his first copy [presumably C037].


Bindings


Leeds University Library copy at Bedford Collection C037: quarter calf, gold tooled on spine, later paper over boards.


Leeds University Library copy at Bedford Collection C085 (another copy): contemporary boards, re-backed [20th century] dark blue sheep, title gold tooled on spine: Designs of Furniture.

Provenance

Leeds University Library copy at Bedford Collection C037: From the John Evan Bedford Library, gifted in 2019. Twenty-first-century pictorial bookplate on front pastedown: John Evan Bedford. Former reference: TC/FE/4. MS. annotation in pencil on pastedown in John Bedford's hand about plates and missing plates and pages, including index. Nineteenth-century MS. annotations in pencil and in ink on plates [measurements] with pencil sketches on certain pages.


Leeds University Library copy at Bedford Collection C085 (another copy): From the John Evan Bedford Library, gifted in 2019. Twenty-first-century pictorial bookplate on rear pastedown: John Evan Bedford. Former reference: TD/FE/519. MS. inscription on front pastedown: 1840 John North His Book. MS. annotations in pencil on front pastedown, some in John Bedford's hand.

Access and usage

Access

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