Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide depending on the edition and the printing. In a technical sense the book is only attributed to George Hepplewhite as author since it was published after his death and the original title page bears the name "A. Hepplewhite and co.", for Alice Hepplewhite, his widow. Very little is known of George Hepplewhite's life, unlike that of the other two great British cabinet makers of the period Thomas Sheraton and Thomas Chippendale. We do have information that suggests Hepplewhite was born in 1727 in Ryton Parish, County Durham, England. The Dover Books edition which is the main one discussed here, was
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').