R E. J. WARNE'S book of furniture mouldings is a piece of research for which all those who are interested in English furniture in any other than a superficial way will be grateful. Nothing of the kind has hitherto been available for architects and designers, and it was owing to the numberless inquiries addressed to me as to where such a book of reference could be obtained, that I asked the author to undertake the work. It was a task from which any man might shrink on account of the labor involved, and I believe it would have never seen the light but for the fact that Mr. Warne realized from his own experience how valuable such a book would be.

Moulding is the method adopted by the cabinetmaker to give definition to the lines of his work, and the sections of moulded detail have varied very much as one style has succeeded another through the Oak, Walnut, Mahogany, and Satinwood periods of English Furniture. Indeed, the full-size details of mouldings in the plates which follow prove that not only did the mouldings of one broad historical period differ radically from those of another, but that there were frequent and important differences between the mouldings of any given quarter of a century and those of that which immediately preceded or followed it.

Mouldings are now produced in great quantities by machinery, and it is possible to make hundreds of feet of an elaborate section in a few hours. But before the introduction of such machinery the cabinetmaker wrought all his mouldings by hand, with the aid of moulding planes, and he might vary them at will, and thus produce the section which, in his opinion, was exactly suited to the work he had in hand. The working of mouldings was then so laborious that the craftsman used them with greater restraint, and obtained more pleasing effects by their use, than is frequently the case to-day when profusion often eliminates interest.

Mr. Warne's presentation of the mass of material which he has accumulated is very practical. He might have set down hundreds of sections, classified them according to periods, and left his readers in some doubt as to their precise application; but by the method which he has adopted not only are the full-size sections of the mouldings drawn with a clearness which is quite admirable, but thumbnail sketches of the pieces to which they were applied have been added.

The main out-to-out dimensions of the various pieces are given on these small outline sections, together with an indication of the exact position of the mouldings. The whole of the essential information is thus available the full-size section, the position it occupied on the furniture, and the main dimensions of the furniture to which it was applied.

There is a tendency among those accustomed to the large scale of moulded detail on exterior work in wood or stone to make their mouldings on furniture and interior woodwork too large, and the full-size furniture mouldings so carefully drawn by Mr. Warne should be of the utmost service not only to furniture designers, but to students of architecture and interior decoration. The sections illustrated cover moulded detail on English furniture from about 1574- 1820.