Book excerpt: "Masterpieces of American Furniture, edited by Anna Tobin D'Ambrosio, the Curator of Decorative Arts since 1989 at Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute Museum of Art, offers concise, engaging text accompanied by exquisite photography. Essays on more than 65 finely crafted examples of American furniture encompass nearly every nineteenth-century style and explore the careers of America's preeminent cabinetmakers and shops including Charles Baudouine, Hugh and John Finlay, Edward Hutchings, John Henry Belter, Herter Brothers, R. J. Horner & Co., Kimbel and Cabus, Kilian Brothers, J. and J. W. Meeks, Anthony Quervelle, and M. & H. Schrenkeisen Mfg. Co. Each footnoted essay offers perceptive new research into historical antecedents, stylistic preferences, manufacturing techniques, and the complex nature of the nineteenth-century furniture trade."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved