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by Jay Robert Stiefel (Author), Adam Bowett (Foreword by)
English joiner John Head (1688-1754) immigrated to Philadelphia in 1717 and became one of its most successful artisans and merchants. His prominence had been lost to history until the discovery of his account book at the American Philosophical Society. The earliest and most complete account book to have survived from any cabinetmaker working in British North America or in Great Britain, it records thousands of transactions over a 35-year period (1718-1753). This volume represents the definitive interpretation of the Head's account book. Profusely illustrated and with a comprehensive general index, it is an essential reference work on 18th-century Philadelphia, its furniture and material culture, and a detailed social history of that era's artisans and merchants.
Author Biography
Jay Robert Stiefel is an authority on the crafts and commerce of Colonial Philadelphia. A native of that city, he studied history at the University of Pennsylvania and Christ Church, Oxford.
Stiefel's writings and lectures on social history, and his appearances on streaming platforms and television broadcasts, such as C-SPAN's American History TV, have restored to the historical record many early craftsmen, artists and merchants whose accomplishments had been obscured by the passage of time. For the publication of The Cabinetmaker's Account, Stiefel was selected by the University of Oxford as its North American-based Alumni Author. His other publications include: Rococo & Classicism in Proprietary Philadelphia: The Origins of the "Penn Family Chairs"; "All in the Family: Joseph Richardson's Earliest Silver"; "Simon Edgell (1687--1742) 'To a Puter Dish' and Grander Transactions of a London-trained Pewterer in Philadelphia"; "Simon Edgell, Unalloyed"; "Barnard Eaglesfield: A Prominent Philadelphia Cabinetmaker Revealed"; "'Beyond expectation, beautiful, graceful and superb, ' Inlaid Miniature Chests of the Philadelphia Circus, ca. 1793"; "Francis Martin Drexel (1792--1863), Artist Turned Financier"; "'A Clock for the Rooms' The Horological Legacy of the Library Company of Philadelphia;" and "'On the Bowling Green at Oxford in ye year 1759' A Newly Discovered Drawing by Marcellus Laroon the Younger."
