V. In addition to the many illustrations of furniture and textiles, the reader is supplied with numerous examples of furnishing by noted architects, decorators, and householders of knowledge and taste; these being rendered of greater helpfulness by a careful indication in the text of admirable features and qualities, and also in some cases by criticism.

VI. Colour in its application to household furnishing has fully and carefully been worked out, and a new plan for the securing of unity throughout the entire premises with the greatest possible variety is here presented. This plan is actually applied through a number of schemes, so as to show its practical results. Numerous colour-schemes and hints for their use are also given.

The value of a mutual comprehension, good-will, and solidarity between the peoples composing the English-speaking world cannot be over-estimated, and the place of the home in the estimation of Anglo-Saxons needs not be stressed. One of the greatest pleasures connected with this volume has been the presentation to American readers of so many examples of modern British work, and the charming spirit of co-operation evinced by their designers in supplying me with original drawings and in their correspondence. I venture to hope that American procedure may be also of great interest in England and her colonies, and I have endeavoured to make this volume universally applicable and helpful.

In schools, the study of household art is yearly receiving greater attention, and hundreds of copies of "The Practical Book of Interior Decoration" are annually used by educational institutions. Because of the plan employed in the present work, of proceeding upon a basis of reason, and because it treats of the abodes of average people, it is believed that it will prove of much value in this connexion.

The decorator will find much to interest him in the illustrations if not also in the text. The dealer and his salesman continually come in contact with the householder and they are universally appealed to for advice. This volume will not only aid them regarding colour and desirable combinations of period furniture, but it treats fully of the "Modern" style with which they are usually not at all familiar. This method may indeed open a new field in the business of the retail dealer.

It has been another great pleasure to give credit where credit is due; in every instance where I had knowledge of the originator has his name been stated. Particularly is this the case with the manufacturers of furniture. Due acknowledgement is habitually given to architects and to decorators - why is the manufacturer of the furniture employed in interiors designed by them to remain anonymous? Is not furniture an art-product? Will it ever in public estimation be regarded at its proper value while it is considered merely an article of merchandise, made supposedly by someone and in some location but by whom and where no one knows or cares! The anonymity of furniture militates against the interest every man should feel in his production, in his life's work. Did we ever know an artist to labour for years in the exposition of beauty and never sign a picture? Till furniture is regarded as a thing of beauty to be signed by its maker, never will it be appreciated at its full value, never will it become all that it might be in excellence and worth.

But the illustration of actual furniture has the greatest practical value. It enables the householder to study, and compare, and learn, in a way impossible to him in hurried visits to shops; it gives him an opportunity of debating at his leisure what types are best suited to his purposes; it may acquaint him with styles and designs of which he is ignorant.

If a shield-backed Hepplewhite chair is referred to it is immediately visualised by anyone familiar with period furniture, but if an author mentions one of the multitudinous types of Modern furniture how shall the householder knows of what he writes? It is not standardised, and the only possible road to clearness is showing him actual pieces, as is here done. He may purchase these or others, but he now knows the type referred to. It was naturally impossible, without increasing the selling price of this volume, to illustrate a greater quantity of period furniture, but enough has been shown to enable the reader to gather a general knowledge of the various styles and to acquaint him with the character of furniture he may purchase.

All this has involved months of labour in exploring the market, correspondence with manufacturers of furniture and textiles, securing photographs, and in many cases personally mounting them in groups for reproduction, but the reader is now supplied with something tangible. The editors of household journals say that they are constantly in receipt of enquiries from subscribers asking where they can obtain furniture shown in interiors illustrated in their columns - which enquiries they are unable to answer. This shows the need of the householder for a large selection of purchasable furniture which he can refer to in the supplying of his own requirements.

I have indulged in no platitudes on the value of the home and its influence - if the reader were not convinced of this much it is not likely that he would have this volume in his hands. Nor has it been my object to write a "beautiful essay" on household art - a hazy dream of "the ideal home that is born, not made", as one says, whatever that cryptic phrase may chance to mean: I have simply and sincerely tried to convey in such a degree of clear, concise, and idiomatic English as I am able to command, information which the householder needs and desires to possess.

For their kind co-operation I most heartily thank those in England - Messrs. Hall Thorpe, R.B.A., Percy A. Wells, W. J. Palmer Jones, George Sheringham, Shirley B. Wainwright, P. Waals, The Colourcraft Company, Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin, Sydney A. Gimson, Ambrose Heal, Oetzmann & Co., Ltd., The Furniture Trade Organiser for the privilege of reproducing plates, and The Studio.

In America I wish sincerely to thank the many who have aided me by their courtesies - Good Furniture Magazine for arranging for the use of material that has substantially appeared in its pages and for illustrations, and to its Editor, Henry W. Frohne, Esq., personally, for his continued interest and his encouragement in this enterprise and for information regarding furniture, to The House Beautiful, likewise, for arranging for the use of material and illustrations, and to House and Garden, to Harold Donaldson Eberlein, Esq., in appreciation of our many "seances" over matters of decoration and life, and to the architects and decorators whose work is illustrated here - Messrs. ChamberlinDodds, Edward H. Aschermann, Pieter Myer, Edward Clarence Dean, William Lawrence Bottomley, Mellor, Meigs & Howe, Myron Hunt, Richard A. Fisher, Alfred Hopkins, Cope & Stewardson, Lewis P. Hobart, W. J. Sterner, M. B. Schmidt, C. E. Schermerhorn, Thomas, Churchman & Mollitor, Frank Chouteau Brown, and Duhring, Okie & Ziegler, and to Mrs. Charles H. Sabin and Misses Jessie Willcox Smith and Violet Oakley. I also especially thank the many manufacturers of furniture and textiles whose names appear in these pages for their universal courtesy and helpfulness in providing me with photographs and particulars, and Messrs. William Baumgarten & Co., Inc., Mr. A. L. Diament, Messrs. Marshall Field & Co., and B. Altman & Co. for so freely supplying fabrics for reproduction, the Curtis Companies and the Armstrong Cork Co. for illustrations and details of their productions, Messrs. Alfred C. Prime and Charles O. Cornelius for information, and particularly Mr. Philip B. Wallace for his fine photographic work.

Edward Stratton Holloway Philadelphia March, 1922