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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



September, 19 13 



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OOLLECTOR-S' DEPARTMENT 



THE EDITOR OF THIS DEPARTMENT WILL BE GLAD TO ANSWER ANY 

 LETTERS OF ENQUIRY FROM ITS READERS ON ANY SUBJECT CONNECTED 

 WITH OLD FURNITURE, POTTERY AND PORCELAIN, GLASS, MINIATURES. 

 TEXTILES, PRINTS AND ENGRAVINGS, BOOKS AND BINDINGS, COINS AND 

 MEDALS, AND OTHER SUBJECTS OF INTEREST TO COLLECTORS. LETTERS 

 OF ENQUIRY SHOULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY STAMPS FOR RETURN POSTAGE 



(Collectors' Notes and Queries and The Collectors' Mart will be found in the 

 reading matter columns of the advertising pages of this number.) 



The Stately Four-Poster 



By Mary H. Northend 

 Photographs by the author 



: 



T is a far cry from the beds of the early 

 days to the bedsteads of to-day, and it is 

 only by harking back that one realizes what 

 has been accomplished in the evolution of 

 beds and their making. Probably, few sub- 

 jects are so difficult to get at correctly as 

 the early history of this particular piece of furniture. This 

 is due in part to the scanty mention of them in the in- 

 ventories of that day. 



As early as 1066, before the time of the Norman Con- 

 quests, we read of beds that were rare, so rare that often 

 only one was found in the house. It was considered to be 

 so important that its use was accorded to the Lord of the 

 Manor or the Ladies of the household; the rest of the 

 family occupying mattresses that filled with straw were 

 thrown onto the floor. 



Again, we read they were built into the wall-like bunks. 

 This style of bed has been revived in modern houses where 

 chambers are small. Four 

 massive posts with some- 

 times tops and sides of 

 wood, curtained with heavy 

 draperies, was another form 

 of bed used. Many of them 

 had tiled roofs showing that 

 they were used either out-of- 

 doors or on account of the 

 lack of windows in the 

 houses of that day. 



At the time of our coun- 

 try being settled, more 

 elaborate beds were used 

 and they were made prin- 

 cipally of oak, being most 

 rich in hand carving. These 

 were large and cumbersome 

 in make, and difficult to 

 transport to this country. 

 Most of them were used in 

 the South during the first 

 half of the century, although 

 inventories show that sev- 

 eral were imported to New 

 England during that period. 



The use of bedsteads A four-poster of the end 



came more generally into use during the seventeenth and 

 the eighteenth century, the same styles being shown in both 

 this country and England. America had not advanced far 

 enough in her manufactures to be able to have cabinet 

 makers of her own to design anything save simple and un- 

 pretentious pieces. In the holds of the cumbersome ships 

 were stored away with the cargo, many a fine old bedstead, 

 which is shown to-day in our twentieth century homes. 

 They were the most expensive pieces of furniture used in 

 those days, exceeding in value the Sheraton sofa and Chip- 

 pendale chair. 



Doubtless, mere frames constituted the earlier bedsteads, 

 and we read at Plymouth, Mass., as early as 1639 ^at they 

 used "A framed bedstead," while eight years later in 

 Salem, "A joyned bedstead" is spoken of. As their valua- 

 tion was only from fourteen to sixteen shillings, we do not 

 think they could have been pretentious in any way. 



The hardest bedsteads to be found were those of the Queen 



Anne period. They were 

 the earliest of hard-wood 

 make, being constructed of 

 walnut; occasionally, here 

 and there we come upon 

 them, but they are the rarest 

 kind. Those more com- 

 monly used were in the 

 Georgian early type, dating 

 back to 1750. All of these 

 were held together with 

 wooden pegs or bolts, 

 always being pierced 

 through the side, through 

 which passed ropes which 

 laced the sack bottoms into 

 place, for it must be remem- 

 bered that in those days 

 there were no such things 

 as springs. Mattresses were 

 also unheard of, feather 

 beds being used instead. 

 They are spoken of in nearly 

 every inventory of that 

 early period, and they are 

 valued from two to three 

 of the eighteenth century pounds each. 



