Mrs. Clouston (p. 70) supposes that Chippendale at first belonged to the Society, but left it to publish on his own account; and that the Society's designs are imitated from the furniture of Chippendale which, before he had brought out his own book, he had already executed. There can be no means of positively proving this; and, if we agree with Mrs. Clouston that the Society's work was the first to appear, it would be perhaps fairer to allow them a modicum of originality. French ornament, at any rate, was there for the cabinetmakers one and all, without exception, to adapt; and many of the Society's designs are such as any reasonably accomplished draughtsman might have evolved from the plainer shapes of the early eighteenth-century furniture, by adding a cabriole leg with a few curves and twists from France, or making a perfunctory excursion into Gothic. A syndicate such as the Cabinetmakers and Upholsterers, whatever the merits of its production, could never give its name to a style. Chippendale came next with a tall folio, and has reaped the fruits of publishing with a picturesque name and a date, even if his great merits are not taken into account.

If stress were to be laid upon this matter of priority in publishing books of furniture designs, perhaps William Jones deserves mention. In 1739 he gave to the world his Gentlemen's or Builders Companion, in which are to be found mirrors and slab tables. The mirrors are somewhat tall and upright, with broken or domed pediments and jutting corners similar to, though lighter than, those of a previous age, for the general style of which his more famous namesake was partly responsible. The tables are elaborately carved with cabriole legs, shell centres and festoons of flowers. Some are supported by terminal figures with scroll and leaf-work. William Jones, however, in his style belongs rather to a former period, and, moreover, claimed the title of architect, not that of a designer of furniture. The same may be said of William Kent, who as a universal director of the artistic conscience of the nobility and gentry of England laid out their gardens for them, and was referred to upon such diverse subjects as those of picture-frames, mirrors, tables, chairs, candlesticks, and even fashions in dress. One of his books, published in 1744, contains a slab table, together with vases, candlesticks, and plenty of gold and silver plate designs.

The versatility of his practice is similar to that of his successors, the Adams, and his theories on sophisticated gardening are perhaps responsible for the extraordinary rustic furniture designs of Manwaring.