Lot Essay
The library armchair relates to a design by John Taylor, upholsterer, whose Upholsterer's and Cabinet-Maker's Pocket Assistant was first published around 1825. Taylor, who contributed a number of designs to Ackermann's Repository of Arts between 1821 and 1824, had been employed at the workshops of George Oakley and established his own upholstery business on Bedford Street, Covent Garden around 1824 (C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660 - 1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 877).