Thomas Shearer's plates are contained in the first two editions of the Cabinet-Maker's London Book of Prices and Designs (1778 and 1793), intended principally for the use of the trade.

"Shearer, however, had his limits, and they are strongly marked. No contemporary designer, not even Sheraton at his best, can be held to have surpassed him in the combination of daintiness and simplicity; but he was far behind both Sheraton and Heppelwhite in the application of the more florid form of ornament. What he possibly may have considered his chef d'oeuvre is a sideboard, the first of its kind (so far as dated designs go) to be really a sideboard and not a sideboard table with drawers introduced.

It may or may not have been the first attempt to combine a sideboard table and the pedestals and vases which went with it into one article, but it is certainly first as regards date of publication. Its interest, however, is more historical than artistic. It effectually disposes of the idea that we owe the sideboard proper to Sheraton "1

The sideboard on Plate LVI gives, like many of the designs of the period, two separate suggestions for patterns. Even the knife-cases that stand on the pedestals are equipped with different handles, so that the man who orders his furniture made can select exactly what pleases him. It is a typical specimen of Shearer at his best.

Shearer was also strong in tables. His style, generally speaking, resembles Heppelwhite, and Sheraton admired him so much that much of his style is founded on this somewhat neglected man.