[Anon], ‘The Principles of Design Essential to the Construction of Artistic Furniture’

The main thrust of this set of articles was to argue that good taste was not impulsive and based on personal perception, rather it was based on sound principles. As a building was once erected merely for the warmth and shelter it provided, so chairs and tables were once merely regarded as things to sit upon or eat from. The wood-carver, who like poor old Caleb, with his barking toy-dogs, likes to go "as close to nature" as he can for the price he receives, does so without the slightest idea of also studying nature in connection with the purpose of the object his work is to decorate. The designs are fitted to the use which the article is intended to serve, and to the material in which it is manufactured. Fitness of design must not only be regarded in connection with use and material, but it must also govern the association of part with part.