Henry Copeland Henry Copeland Henry Copeland, aka Henry Copland, (c. 1710 – 1754) was an 18th-century English cabinetmaker and furniture designer. In partnership with Mathias Locke during the mid-18th century in London, they produced many furniture designs in the Rococo Furniture Style. However both men worked for Thomas Chippendale the elder and many of their designs appear, without acknowledgement, in his book of designs, "The Gentleman and Cabinet Makers Director", published two years later. However a study of the original drawings suggests that they may have actively collaborated with Chippendale on his book. Copeland appears to have been the first manufacturing cabinetmaker
Metamorphic library steps ceilings and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. The topmost shelves were difficult to reach, so movable library steps or library stairs were created as a form of domestic furniture. During the second half of the 18th century a succession of talented German-born cabinet-makers passed through the French courts. Jean-François Oeben, Jean-Henri Riesener and David Roentgen had successively introduced the courts of Louis XV and Louis XVI to a wide range of finely made and exquisitely finished mechanical furniture. The ingenuity of these cabinet-makers, especially David Roentgen who became master cabinet-maker to Marie Antoinette, led to a fascination for "meubles à surprises" ('surprise furniture').