1 JANUARY 1954, Page 36

London Furniture Makers, 1660-1840. By Ambrose Heal. (Batsford. £6 6s.)

SIR AMBROSE HEAL'S monumental book consists of, first, a list of the principal London cabinet makers, upholsterers, car- vers and gilders of the period covered, with addresses and dates, to the number of 2,500 ; secondly of very numerous reproductions of their trade cards, which are delightful examples of the arts of lettering, decorating and engraving ; thirdly of a brief essay on problems of identification by Mr. R. W. Symonds ; and fourthly of ample illustra- tions of some noteworthy pieces of furniture. The book is produced in a manner worthy of the thirty years of research that have gone to its composition. N. P. R.