Ever since the first publication of this book in 1979 it has been the standard work on its subject. It combined a logical and thorough presentation of the main aspects of oak furniture in the UK and New England with a very extensive collection of photos.

The new, sadly posthumous, edition represents only a partial evolution from the first. It retains the same chapter structure: Historical context, Makers and methods, Types and names of furniture, Decorative styles and regional differences. This allows the author to introduce systematically the economic and social context in which furniture was produced and sold, the timbers and construction techniques used (from turning to joinery), workshop and guild organization, the numerous types of furniture, the often confused terminology used in household inventories and/or invented in Victorian times or by dealers, and the decorative styles from Gothic onwards. Regional variations are a main theme and there are sections on New England, Aberdeen, Westmorland, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Salisbury, Wales and Ireland. The text is unchanged from the original edition and all the original photos are retained with their original numbering to facilitate reference as well as the useful photo index.

The main changes in this edition are the (even) larger format, and the increased number of photographs, now 241 in colour instead of 16, and 1087 in black and white. All the photos are larger and colour photos have been added of 40 or so new pieces of furniture as well as additional colour photos of some of the original pieces. This allows the inclusion of particularly choice pieces; some of these have passed through major auction houses but others will be unfamiliar to most readers. The captions for these new pieces convey detailed information. The author had a particular interest in Salisbury furniture which showed a preference for the French ‘caquetoire’ chair into the 17th century, which was matched only in Scotland. The Salisbury illustrations are considerably expanded, and include two 17th-century romayne panel back chairs, which provide further evidence of an antiquarian tradition, and the striking 1640 panel back chair in the frontispiece, as well as motifs such as the ‘eye’ (also used in Dorset) and the ‘domino’. Other interesting new pieces are the 16th-century folding table with renaissance decoration, a walnut Somerset panel back chair of 1613, and a number of carved boxes. Visually the book is thus considerably more attractive than before.

It is inevitable in reviewing this book that one is aware of the gap between the views expressed in the text here and the author's views in later years. In 1979 the author expressed uncertainty about the authenticity of some of the pieces he included, e.g. a chest with romayne panels which he thought might be a later re-use of early panels, as was confirmed when it was sold recently. In my view he would have been much more radical in assessing ‘16th-century furniture’ than he was in 1979. Over the years Chinnery detected a number of dubious pieces: such as the ‘oak buffet’ (made from the carcase of a chest of drawers) in Macquoid's Age of oak Footnote ¹ which made national news, and the c. 1500 ‘chair’ in Plate 1 of Jellinek's Early British Chairs and Seats Footnote ² (a converted pulpit). He was also aware of the difficulty of using coats of arms for dating, given that they could be used retrospectively to add lustre to a family's self-image.

In recent years there has been a wider re-evaluation of previously accepted pieces. The V&A has demoted its oft-illustrated caquetoire chair with angled arms (which appears here as ‘c.1530’) on the basis that the romayne back panel is 19th century, as well as two chests with parchemin panels (early panels in associated structures), and the Metropolitan Museum now describes as ‘20th-century’ its gothic cupboard (accession number 09.202.4) which appeared in Macquoid's Age of oak. These pieces were probably produced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when demand outstripped supply and the market responded by filling the gap: manufacturing from scratch, recycling early fragments and importing Continental pieces. In discussion, Chinnery was undogmatic and was willing to share his uncertainties, particularly about pre-1600 furniture. Ideally he would have revised the book to take into account his developing knowledge. It is also likely that he would have modified his sceptical comments about the potential contribution of dendrochronology. He made use of this technique, most notably in the case of the mid-15th-century Flemish ‘Boughton Monchelsea’ chest with a carved hunting scene sold by Christie's in 1999, a type which had previously been dated to the late 14th century.

Another lacuna is that the book is not abreast of developments in regional furniture since 1979. These have been led by members of the Regional Furniture Society of which Chinnery was a founding member in 1984, leading light and President. This work includes Bebb's major study of Welsh furniture in its social context which advances a counter-narrative to its treatment as a poor, backward imitation of London furniture,Footnote ³ Lindey's work on 17th-century apprentices in London,Footnote ⁴ Bowett's work on timber varieties, importation and uses,Footnote ⁵ and Gall and Brears's recent identification of Durham panel back chairs.Footnote ⁶ There is also a greater awareness today of Continental imports.

Overall, Oak furniture has stood the test of time and this revised edition will continue to be the prime guide to the field, if used cautiously for the pre-1600 period. A complementary book, Names for things, Footnote ⁷ authored by Victor Chinnery and edited by Jan Chinnery, has also just appeared. It provides a dictionary of furniture and all types of domestic artefact as well as interior decoration more generally, with extensive quotations from 16th- and 17th-century inventories and other sources.