What's New
9/24/2009

Now on CD:
TSC Volume 1
TSC Volume 2
TSC Volume 3

The Scale Cabinetmaker
Reading List

The Scale Cabinetmaker & Depot Museum is now open.

In the Interim

Publications
The Scale Cabinetmaker
The Cabinetmaker's
Guides
The Best of TSC
Retail Order Form

Sampling
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Why Scale?
In the Interim (1976-2005)

Contacting Dorsett Publications

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630 Depot Street, NE
Christiansburg, VA 24073
540.382.6431
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Cool Sites

The TSC Reading List

Volumes 1 (1976/77) - Volume 4 (1979/80)

Over the years, Jim Dorsett and the writers and modelers of The Scale Cabinetmaker drew on a wide range of sources for inspiration and information. The Scale Cabinetmaker Reading List is the list of sources quoted or cited in the 20 years of TSC. In addition to being the publisher and primary author of The Scale Cabinetmaker, Jim Dorsett had an undergraduate degree in English (Wichita City College, now University of Wichita) and was a former Presbyterian minister (trained at McCormick and preached in Montana, his home state, and Missouri) and a Sociology professor at Virginia Tech (PhD from Missouri), where he taught the Social Theory and the History of Social Thought. His background in philosophy, social history, and literature is reflected in the pages of TSC.

Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. (1892) Three Episodes of Massachusetts History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. (Riverside Press). pg. 802. Available online from Google books.

Adrosko, Rita J.(1971). Natural Dyes and Home Dyeing. New York: Dover.

Aesop. (c. 5th Century BC). “Wolf in Sheep's Clothing”

American Home Magazine.

VII:1 (October, 1931) (Original plans for a "Dutch" style house, used with permission.)

XLV:2 (Januay 1951) 1950 Living Room Cover Art.

Antiques. October, 1978.

Aronson, Joseph (1965). New Encyclopedia of Furniture. New York: Crown Publishing.

Asher and Adams Commercial Atlas (1874).

Bacon, Francis (1605). Advancement of Learning. Available online from Project Gutenberg.

Bacon, Francis (1627). Silva Sylvarum. Available online from Google Books. (Book referenced by Jane Bernier, in TSC 2:1)

Bellamy, Edward (1915). Looking Backward: From 2000 to 1887. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Electronic version: University of Virginia American Studies Program, 1997.

Benjamin, Asher (1827). The American Builder's Companion. New York: Dover. (1969 Reprint)

Bishop, Robert (1972). Centuries and Styles of the American Chair. New York: E.P. Dutton.

Blackie & Sons (1853). The Victorian Cabinetmaker's Assistant. Reprinted by Dover Press. 1970.

Boorstin, Daniel (1973). The Americans: The Democratic Experience. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, New Edition, 2000. Probably one of the best and most readable books on the social history of America in print.

Brazer, Esther Stevens (1940). Early American Decorations: A Comprehensive Treatise. Springfield, MA: Pond-Ekberg Co.

Note: For more background on the 19th C American Decorative Movement, please see the NY Times Article.

Bridgeman, H. and E. Drury (1975). The Encyclopedia of Victoriana. New York: MacMillan.

Brush, Katherine. Red-Headed Woman. Serial book published in the Saturday Evening Post in the 1930s. Note: the serial book was made into a film in 1932 by MGM.

Carlyle, Thomas (1855) Latter-Day Pamphlets. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Co. Electronic version from Google Books.

Carroll, Lewis (1871). Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice found There. 1896 Edition. University of Adelaide.

Cescinsky, Herbert (1968). English Furniture From Gothic to Sheraton. New York: Bonanza Books.

Chippendale, Thomas (1754). The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director. London: Thomas Chippendale.

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (1973). “Fashionable, Neat, and Good:” The Williamsburg Collection of Antique Furnishings. Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (1971). Legacy From the Past:A Portfolio of Eighty-Eight Original Williamsburg Buildings. Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Comstock, Helen (1962). American Furniture. Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Century Styles. New York: Viking Press. Many of Comstock's papers (1959-1965) are located at the Winterthur Library in the Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera.

Comstock, Helen (1969). The Concise Encyclopedia of American Antiques. Hawthorn Books.

Conrad, Joseph (1897). "Preface" to The Nigger of the 'Narcissus.' Available online.

Davidson, Marshall B. (1971). History of Notable American Houses. New York: American Heritage Publishing Co.

Demorest's Monthly Magazine. (1878) Note: Published by William Jennings Demorest.

Dickens, Charles (1843). A Christmas Carol. Available Online from the University of Virginia.

Downing, A.J. (1969). The Architecture of Country Houses. New York: Dover.

Drepperd, Carl W. (1952). A Dictionary of American Antiques. New York: Doubleday & Co.

Drepperd, Carl W. (1946). Primer of American Antiques. New York: Doubleday & Co.

Drinker, Cecil (1937). Not So Long Ago: A Chronicle of Medicine and Doctors in Colonial Philadelphia. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ethan Allen Inc. (1976). The Treasury of Ethan Allen American Traditional Interiors, 77th Ed. Danbury, CT.

Fawcett, Wilford Hamilton “Captain Billy” (1920's-). Captain Billy's WhizBang. Fawcett Publications.

Fields, Eugene (1912 ). "Grandma's Prayer." Available online. In Yale Book of American Verse. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1912. (Poem referenced by Kathy Sevebeck in TSC 2:1)

Forbes, Esther (1954). Rainbow on the Road. Boston. Houghton Mifflin. (Cited by Shirley Hillhouse in TSC 2:3)

Frary, I.T. (1970). Early Homes of Ohio. New York: Dover.

Furnas, J.C. (1969).The Americans. New York: Putnam.

Gilbert, William S. and Sir Arthur Sullivan. (1878).  H.M.S. Pinafore or The Lass that Loved a Sailor. Boise State University.

Gilbert, William S. and Sir Arthur Sullivan. (1885).  The Micado.  Boise State University.

Godey's Lady Book. Vol. LIX (1859).

Grahame, Kenneth (1908). Wind in the Willows. Note: the full text of Wind in the Willows is available online at The Literature Network. Also available from Penguin Classics (2005). A wonderful book if you have never read it.

Grant, Jan. (1975) “Introduction.” In The Encyclopedia of Victoriana. H Bridgeman and E. Drury, eds. New York: Macmillan.

Graves, Robert. “Blond or Dark?”  In Poems, 1914-1926. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1929.

Hall, John (1840). The Cabinet Maker's Assistant, Embracing The Most Modern Style of Cabinet Furniture Exemplified in New Designs. (Reprinted by National Superior Inc., New York, 1944)

Hall, Peg (1951). Early American Decorating Patterns. New York: M. Barrows.

Hallett, Charles (1952). Furniture Decoration Made Easy. Boston: Charles T. Branford Co.

Hanley, Hope (1964). Needlepoint. New York: Scribners.

Hepplewhite, George (1788). The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide. New York: Dover Press

Holtzapffel, John Jacob (1881).  Hand or Simple Turning: Principles and Practice. New York: Dover Press (1976).

House & Garden. May, 1941.

Ince, William and John Mayhew (1759-1763). The Universal System of Household Furniture. New York: Dover Press.

Isham, Norman M. and Albert F. Brown (1965). Early Connecticut Houses. New York: Dover Press.

Jakes, John (1976). The Bastard. New York: Jove Publishing.

James, Henry (1884). “The Art of Fiction.” In. Longman's Magazine 4 (September 1884).

Johnson, Dorothy. "Small Town World Before Radio." In Montana: the Magazine of Western History. XXIV:2.

Kelly, J. Frederick (1924). The Early Domestic Architecture of New England. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Koch, Robert L. (1982). Tiffany, Rebel in Glass (3rd ed.) New Year: Crown Publishing

Kluger, Phyllis (1975). A Needlepoint Gallery of Patterns from the Past. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Ladies' Floral Cabinet. Vol IV, No. 37 (January, 1875)

Lawrence, Kocher A.  (1919). Colonial Williamsburg: Its Buildings and Gardens. Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg.

Lloyd, John Gilbert (1963). Stained Glass in America. Jenkintown, PA: Foundation Books.

Mann, Thomas (1936 ). Joseph in Egypt. Translated by H. T. Lowe-Porter. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948.

Mather, C. (1978). “The Arts of the Spanish in New Mexico.” In Antiques. February, 1978.

McClintock, Inez and Marshall (1961). Toys in America. Washington: Public Affairs Press.

McClinton, K.M. (1966). Collecting American Victorian Antiques. New York: Scribners.

Miller, Edgar G. (1975). American Antique Furniture. New York: Dover Press.

Montgomery, Charles F. (1978).  American Furniture: The Federal Period. New York: Bonanza Books.

Moore, Clement Clarke (1823). A Visit from Saint Nicholas. Available online from Project Gutenberg.

Moore, Colleen. Source Unknown. Description of her dollhouse, located in Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.

Note: If you haven't seen Colleen Moore's fairy castle and can not travel to Chicago to see it, take a look at the virtual tour from the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

Morningstar, Connie (1971). Flapper Furniture and Interiors of the 1920's. Des Moines, IA: Wallace-Homestead Book Co.

Anonymous. Sisyphus. Greek Mythology.

Nast, Thomas (1863 ). Illustration of Santa Claus on the cover of Harper's Weekly, January 3, 1863. In 1871, Harper's Weekly published an article about Thomas Nast, who worked as an editorial cartoonist for the publication from 1859 to 1860 and from 1872 to 1886.

Nervo, Joanne. (1974). Stained Glass Patterns. Self-published

Nutting, Wallace. (1954). Furniture Treasury (Unabridge edition). New York: MacMillan Publishing.

Oliphant, Carolina. "The Laird o' Cockpen."

Ormsbee, Thomas (1951). Field Guide to Early American Furniture. Bonanza Books.

Osburn, Burl and Bernice (1975). Measured Drawings of Early American Furniture. New York: Dover.

Otto, Celia Jackson (1965). American Furniture of the Nineteenth Century. New York: Viking.

Parslow, Virginia D. (1969). In The Concise Encyclopedia of American Antiques. By Helen Comstock. Hawthorn Books.

Palliser, Palliser, & Company. (1887) Palliser's New Cottage Homes & Details. New York: Palliser, Palliser & Co / American Life Foundation. .(Dover Reprint, 2003). According to Dover, Palliser, a New York Architecture firm, " issued a catalog of 250 original designs, and some 1,500 detailed drawings, for cottages, villas, farmhouses, seashore residences, summer and winter resorts, block houses, barns, stables, and carriage houses.

Note: Other Palliser, Palliser, & Co. publications area available online through Google Books.

John Plain Catalog (1949). John Plain & Company, Chicago.

Pope, Alexander (1717). "Preface to the Iliad." Available online.

Pope, Alexander (1736). “Windsor-Forest.” Available online.

Popular Mechanics (1909). Mission Furniture, How to Make It, Part I. Chicago: Popular Mechanics.

Note: For those interested in early issues of Popular Mechanics, issues back to 1905 are available on  Google Book Search. It is especially useful for those modelers who are interested in creating early 20th Century roomboxes.

Ramsey, L.G.G. and Helen Comstock (1969). Antique Furniture: The Guide for Collectors, Investors, and Dealers. New York: Hawthorne Books.

Riley, James Whitcomb (1912). "Knee Deep in June." (Poem). In The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley. (1916). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Russell, Loris S. (1968). A Heritage of Light: Lams and Lighting in the Early Canadian Home. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Sabine, Ellen S. (1956). American Antique Decoration. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand Co.

Sabine, Ellen S. (1962). Early American Decorative Patterns and How to Paint Them. New York: Bonanza Nd.

Salomonsky, Verna Cook (1974). Masterpieces of Furniture. New York: Dover Press.

Schopenhauer, Arthur. (Date Unknown). Studies in Pessimism. Hardcopy reprint available from De Young Press, 1997.

Selz, Peter and Mildred Constantine (eds.). Art Nouveau, Art, and Design at the Turn of the Century.

Shakespeare, William (1599/1623). As You Like It.

Sheraton, Thomas (1803). Cabinet Directory.

Sheraton, Thomas (1802). Cabinet-maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book and Repository. New York: Dover, 1972.

Sidney, Sylvia and Alfred Allan Lewis. (1968 ) Sylvia Sidney's Needlepoint Book. New York: Galahad Books.

Siegler, Susan (1976). Needlework Patterns from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Sillman, Benjamin Jr.  

Note: The full quote from Silliman was “The solumn affectation of Greek and Roman forms was so ridiculous...it produced ponderous and frigid monstrosity.”

Slayton, Mariette Paine (1972). Early American Decorating Techniques. Dover Press.

Smith, George (1826). Cabinet-Makers and Upholsterer's Guide. London: Jones and Co.

Stafford, Carleton L. and Robert Bishop (1972). American Quilts and Coverlets. E.P Dutton.

Stapley, Mildred (1969). Spanish Interiors and Furniture. New York: Dover Press.

Tarkington, Booth (1928). The World Does Move. New York: Random House.

Thomas, Dylan (1954--Published postumously)). "A Child's Christmas in Wales." Available online in print and in audio form. Dylan Thomas was one of Jim Dorsett's favorite poets in part because of the kinship of place. Despite an English last name, my Jim was predominantly Welsh and claimed that his love of language and cadence came from Welsh blood. For information on Dylan Thomas, take a look at the BBC tribute website.

Thomas, Gordan and Max Morgan Witts (1979). The Day the Bubble Burst:A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929.  New York: Doubleday & Company.

Thurber, James (1939). “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” The New Yorker. March 18, 1939. Reprinted in My World and Welcome to It. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1942.

Wegner Chair, cover. Better Homes and Gardens. October, 1970. For additional Information on the Wegner Chair, see danish-furniture.com

Whiffen, Marcus (1972). The 18th Century Houses of Williamsburg. New York: Colonial Williamsburg.

Wigginton, Eliot (ed.) (1973). Foxfire 2. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/ Doubleday.