For more than thirty years this book has, in its various editions, outsold all other books on British antique furniture simply because it is unique in explaining what to look for when assessing the value of antique pieces. There are plenty of general guides available with hundreds of photographs, but their unhelpful, dry auctioneers descriptions, devoid of key words like fake, poor quality, badly designed or bodged up, give no help in understanding the subject, and the collector soon becomes bewildered by the unexplained repetition of dozens of photographs of similar items at different prices. This new edition of what has become a classic guide consists of more than 1,000 black and white photographs and 148 colour plates, all specially selected by the experienced author to show just how and why values vary with down-to-earth comments explaining the important features which influence individual prices. Reading the book one comes to understand the rules and prejudices which apply, the eye becomes attuned to gradations of quality and the reader comes instinctively to assess the workmanship and how these influence the price tag.