The sofa and chair in Illustration 230 are part of a set of furniture bought by the father and mother of the late Major Ben: Perley Poore, for their house at Indian Hill, about 1840. These pieces are interesting not only for the design of the mahogany frames, carved with swans’ necks and heads, but for the covering, which is of colored haircloth, woven in a large figure in red and blue upon a gray ground. The seat of the sofa is worn and has a rug spread upon it, but the back and pillows and the chair-seat are perfect. [Illustration: Illus. 230.—Sofa and Chair, about 1840.] From 1844 to 1848 a cabinet-maker named John H. Belter had a shop in New York, where he manufactured furniture, chiefly from rosewood. The backs of the chairs and sofas were deeply curved, and in order to obtain the strength necessary, thin pieces of rosewood were pressed into the desired curve, and the several thicknesses glued together, and pressed again. The strong back made in this way was then elaborately carved, in an open-work pattern of vines and leaves. [Illustration: Illus. 231.—Rosewood Sofa, 1844-1848.] The sofas of these sets were usually in the shape shown in Illustration 231, which belongs to Mrs. M. Newman of New York. Many of the wealthy families of New York had this Belter furniture, which was always covered with a rich silk brocade. It is eagerly sought for now and brings large prices. CHAPTER VIII TABLES [Illustration] THE earliest form of table in use in this country was inventoried in 1642 as a “table bord,” and the name occurs in English inventories one hundred years earlier. The name “board” was given quite literally from the table top, which was a board made separately from the supporting trestles, and which, after a meal, was taken off the trestles, and both board and trestles were put away, thus leaving the room free. These tables were long and narrow, and had in earliest times a long bench or form at one side only, the other side of the board being left free for serving. In the Bolles collection is a veritable “borde” rescued from the attic of a deserted house, where it had stood for scores of years. The board is about twelve feet long and two feet one inch wide, and bears the mark of many a knife. It rests upon three rude trestles, presenting a wonderfully interesting example of the “table borde” of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and one which is extremely rare. [Illustration: Illus. 232.—Chair Table, Eighteenth Century.]