The business of furniture-making appears to have been subdivided. There were joiners, turners, chair-makers, Windsor chair-makers, carvers, and cabinetmakers, but it is doubtful whether the line of difference was sharply drawn, for some of the chair-makers are known to have made at least dressing-tables and probably other articles.

These furniture-makers seem to have kept in touch with the new English fashions. It is known that the books of the early eighteenth-century architects were freely employed here, and many of the designs from Chippendale's book were copied, including a number of his mouldings, which show familiarity with his work. For instance, the chair shown in Figure 558 bears the card of James Gillingham, cabinet and chair maker in Second Street between Walnut and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, and the chair is copied from Plate X in Chippendale's "Director," appearing in all editions. Further, James Rivington, of Hanover Square, New York, advertises for sale, in 1760, "Household Furniture for the year 1760 by a Society of Upholsterers, Cabinet Makers, etc. containing upwards of 180 Designs consisting of Tea Tables, Dressing, Card, Writing, Library, and Slab Tables, Chairs, Stools, Couches, Trays, Chests, Tea Kettles, Bureaus, Beds, Ornamental Bed Posts, Cornishes, Brackets. Fire Screens, Desk and Bookcases, Sconces, Chimney Pieces, Girondoles, Lanthorns, etc. with Scales." This certainly indicates that the American cabinet-makers were keeping in close touch with the newest London designs. In 1762, the year that the third edition of Chippendale's book was published, an advertisement appeared in New York: "John Brinncr, Cabinet and Chair Maker from London at the Sign of the Chair, opposite Flatten Barrack Hill, in the Broad-Way, New York, where every article in the Cabinet, Chair-making, Carving and Gilding Business is enacted on the most reasonable Terms with the Utmost Neatness and Punctuality. He Carves all Sorts of Architectural, Gothic, and Chinese Chimney-pieces, Glass and Picture Frames, Slab Frames, Girondels, Chandaliers, and all Kinds of Mouldings and Frontispieces, etc., etc., Desk and Book Cases, Library Book Cases, Writing and Reading Tables, Study Tables, China Shelves and Cases, Commode and Plain Chests of Drawers, Gothic and Chinese Chairs; all sorts of plain or ornamental Chairs, Sofa Beds, Sofa Settees, Couch and Easy Chairs, Frames, all Kinds of Field Bedsteads, etc., etc. N. B. He has brought over from London six Artificers, well-skilled in the above branches."

In 1771 appears the following: "Tomorrow will be sold at public vendue at the Merchants' Coffee house at twelve O'clock by John Applegate, a very neat set of carved mahogany chairs, one carved and gilt sideboard table, and a Chinese hanging bookcase with several other things. N. B. The back of the chairs is done after the pattern of some of the queens; a sketch of which chair will be shown at the time of the sale. The chairs and other things were made by a person in the Jersies who served his time and afterward was eleven years foreman to the great and eminent cabinet maker, William Hallet, Esq., that bought the fine estate of the Duke of Shandos, called Cannon's in Middlesex; was afterwards a master for twenty years in London and hath been two years in the Jersies. He will receive any order for furniture, viz: - Plate cases or best Chinese hanging bookcases or on frames; French elbow chairs, ribbon back, Gothic or any sort of chairs, likewise carved glass frames, girrandoles, bracket branches etc."

In the late years of the century were published books of prices, apparently in imitation of the ones published yearly in London. In Philadelphia it was called "The Journeyman's Cabinet and Chair makers' Philadelphia Book of Prices," and a similar book was published by the joiners of Hartford in 1792.

The furniture found in America during the eighteenth century can be divided into four periods.

The first period was from about 1700 to 1725, when the style was a combination of the William and Mary with the Dutch style which followed it. The change in style had been so radical that the conservative colonists seem to have been loath to adopt it; consequently during this period the two styles struggled with each other for the supremacy. In an inventory as late as 1724, at Boston, turkey-work chairs are mentioned as new, and Judge Samuel Sewall, in 1719, writing to London for household goods, asked for "a dozen good black walnut chairs fine cane with a couch." However, the new style continued to persist, and in 1722 are found advertised crooked-backed chairs, clearly referring to the new form.

The next period was from 1725 to 1750. The Dutch style was now at its height. The cabinet-makers did not slavishly copy the English style, but developed along somewhat independent lines, and the high chests of drawers and their companion dressing-tables continued in fashion and were not replaced by the English adaptation of the French commodee.

During the Chippendale period, 1750 to 1775, furniture was made in the colonies which for workmanship compared favourably with any made in England. In Philadelphia high cheats of drawers, dressing-tables, and desks were made with scroll top and elaborately carved, while in New England low chests of drawers, chest on chests, dressing-tables, and desks were being made in the block-front type. Both of these styles are original in America and are the contribution of cabinet-makers here to the art. Pic-crust tables and well-carved chairs were abundantly made here and were quite the equal of those made in England.

The last period is 1785 to 1810. America does not seem to have been greatly influenced by the transition pieces between Chippendale and the Hepplewhite and Sheraton schools. The Revolutionary War had cut off all commercial intercourse between the two countries just at the time when the transition pieces were popular in England; consequently the Chippendale style lasted longer here, and by the time the war was over the later styles had become firmly established.

The Sheraton style greatly influenced the cabinet-makers, and many dainty-pieces are found here. One of the characteristics of the style in this country is that it is almost devoid of mouldings; rarely, if ever, is the cyma curve used, but the edges are often straight, relieved of bareness by inlay.

The Empire period in this country was prolific. Mahogany had become plentiful, and massive furniture was constructed with posts and columns often carved in a coarse pineapple and acanthus-leaf design.

About 1825 there was an attempt made to revive the Gothic style, and a number of pieces are found here reflecting that attempt. In England several books of design were published, notably Pugin's "Gothic Furniture" in 1826 The attempt was short-lived and was followed by a revival of the French rococo, of which many rosewood parlour suits and other furniture are still quite commonly found.