It will probably be a surprise to the reader who has had no occasion to inquire especially into the history of household furniture to know that a century and a half ago furniture makers, in England and elsewhere, resorted to much the same method of securing customers, by publishing illustrated catalogues, as do our own enterprising manufacturers. Among the earliest of these trade catalogues, as we now call them, was that of Thomas Chippendale, the first edition of which was published about 1750 (the exact date is in doubt), and two later editions are known. This catalogue has been reproduced in recent years and many of the plates have been frequently copied, until the Chippendale designs have become familiar, and the name applied broadly but loosely to all of the work of the period, including a great deal which by right has no connection whatever with Chippendale. The illustrations in this catalogue were elaborately engraved on copper, and it was entitled "The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director." It contained over two hundred engravings of useful and decorative designs, some of which, however, were probably never executed. It included designs "in the most fashionable taste" for a great variety of furniture "calculated to improve and refine the present taste, and suited to the fancy and circumstances of persons in all degrees of life." A great deal of the design is traceable to French influence, and may have been borrowed directly from similar books by French cabinet-makers. [Illustration] [Illustration: "CHINESE" PATTERN CHIPPENDALE CHAIRS] Of Chippendale himself little of a personal nature is known. Both he and his father were carvers, and it is no doubt true that to the repute established by his father as a basis, he added superior skill and taste, and the shrewdness of a tradesman. It is by no means certain, however, that in his time, or immediately after it, his reputation was greater than that of other cabinet-makers. His present celebrity depends more upon the survival and later reproduction of his book of designs than upon any contemporary fame. That he had refinement of taste is proved by his designs; but that he was anxious, above all, to secure patrons is hardly open to question. Mr. J. A. Heaton ("Furniture and Decoration in England during the Eighteenth Century") calls him a "vulgar hawker" ready to make anything that would fill his purse. His book, the text of which is written in the bombastic style of the period, begins with an explanation of the classical orders of architecture, holding them up as the only basis of true design in furniture; but he later refers to certain designs "in the Chinese manner"--which were made, quite certainly, in response to the fashion introduced in England by Sir William Chambers,--as the most appropriate and successful of his whole collection. [Illustration: PLATE XXXIX CHIPPENDALE CHAIRS]