Customer Reviews

Stickley Brothers Furniture: Identification & Value Guide (Identification & Values)

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I never write reviews but I really feel ripped off by this book and I would like others to be able to avoid that.

I bought this book after acquiring an early Stickley Brothers dining room set (table, chairs, buffet, china cabinet) and I wanted to find out more about them. Where better to start than with a book called "Stickley Brothers Furniture?"

If you know anything about Stickley furniture (and I don't profess to be an expert), you know that there were several brothers who manufactured arts and crafts furniture, under several company names. There was Gustav Stickley, Stickley Brothers Furniture Company, L & JG Stickley Furniture Company, Stickley/Brandt Furniture Company, etc.

Out of 238 pages in the book, 126 are devoted to Gustav Stickley and 31 devoted to Stickley Brothers. The rest are devoted to very spotty coverage of L & JG Stickley and Charles Stickley (who gets all of 8 pages). So the book titled "Stickley Brothers Furniture" devotes maybe 15 percent of its content to Stickley Brothers furniture.

While the illustrations are very attractive (evenly lit, in focus, no distracting background), they are apparently all lifted from a single auction house's catalogs. This is clearly with the auction house's consent as there is a lengthy piece about how great the auctioneers are (presumably the price for using their photos).

There is virtually no real effort at scholarship or teaching ways to "identify and value" the furniture, though the prices realized at auction (no date given) are included.

So for your money, you get virtually nothing but the catalog entries for a miscellaneous lot of furniture that happened to go through that particular auction house's inventory.

This is not a book that will increase your understanding of Stickley furniture (and particularly Stickley Brothers furniture) unless you have never read anything about this topic in your life. And if that's the case, you would be much better served with another book. There are quite a lot of good ones out there.

the book was great with hundreds of pictures. It was very helpful. Service was excellent and the price was great too.

The graphics in this volume are outstanding! The book is a highly informative volume for Stickley furniture.