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Regency Books

REGENCY STYLE

Like France’s Empire style, Regency-style furniture was rooted in neoclassicism; the characteristics of its bedroom furniture, armchairs, dining room tables and other items include clean lines, angular shapes and elegant details.

Dating roughly from the 1790s to 1830s, antique Regency-style furniture gets its name from Prince George of Wales — formally King George IV — who became Prince Regent in 1811 after his father, George III, was declared unfit to rule. England’s Regency style is one of the styles represented in Georgian furniture.

George IV’s arts patronage significantly influenced the development of the Regency style, such as the architectural projects under John Nash, which included the renovation of Buckingham House into the formidable Buckingham Palace with a grand neoclassical facade. Celebrated designers of the period include Thomas Sheraton, Henry Holland and Thomas Hope. Like Nash, Hope instilled his work with classical influences, such as saber-legged chairs based on the ancient Greek klismos. He is credited with introducing the term “interior decoration” to English with the 1807 publishing of Household Furniture and Interior Decoration.

Although more subdued than previous styles like Rococo and Baroque, Regency interiors incorporated copious use of chintz fabrics and wallpaper adorned in chinoiserie-style art. Its furniture featured fine materials and luxurious embellishments. Furniture maker George Bullock, for instance, regularly used detailed wood marquetry and metal ornaments on his pieces.

Archaeological discoveries in Egypt and Greece informed Regency-era details, such as carved scrollwork, sphinxes and palmettes, as well as the shape of furniture. A Roman marble cinerary chest, for example, would be reinterpreted into a wooden cabinet. The Napoleonic Wars also inspired furniture, with martial designs like tented beds and camp-style chairs becoming popular. While the reddish-brown mahogany was prominent in this range of pieces, imported woods like zebrawood and ebony were increasingly in demand.

Find a collection of antique Regency tables, seating, decorative objects and other furniture on 1stDibs.

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Style: Regency
Satire Against Husbands by J. F. Regnard, 1954 1st Edition
Located in Stamford, CT
Satire Against Husbands by J. F. Regnard,. Hardcover 1954 1st Edition. Mylar jacket has been added at later date.
Category

1950s American Vintage Regency Books

Materials

Paper

The Glitter and the Gold, Hardcover 1st Edition
Located in Stamford, CT
The Glitter and the Gold by Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan. 1952 Hardcover 1st Edition. Mylar clear cover has been added at a later date.
Category

1950s American Vintage Regency Books

Materials

Paper

Maitland Smith French Tooled Leather Wedding Photo Album Scrap Book 15"
Located in Dayton, OH
Vintage late 20th century Maitland Smith French Regency style photo album / scrap book. Bound in mottled tooled leather with panel of faux fur at the center, and accented with a shie...
Category

Late 20th Century Regency Books

Materials

Leather

2 Antique Books, The Lives of Scottish Poets, English, Biographical, Regency
Located in Hele, Devon, GB
This is a 2 volume antique book set, The Lives of Scottish Poets. An English language biographical work, dating to the Regency period, published 1821....
Category

Early 19th Century British Antique Regency Books

Materials

Paper

19th Century Book Stand
Located in Dublin 8, IE
19th Century Regency mahogany book stand with brass gallery sides with scrolled lifting handles, raised on four flat bun feet.
Category

19th Century Irish Antique Regency Books

Materials

Brass

Regency Brass Mounted Country House Library Long Arm or Book Reach, circa 1830
Located in Central England, GB
This beautifully engineered and constructed library accessory is in good working condition. It is a rare piece and would have originated from a lar...
Category

1830s English Antique Regency Books

Materials

Mahogany

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Collection of Leather Bound Art Deco Photo Albums of European Travel
Located in Atlanta, GA
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The Lives of Artists Collected Profiles by Calvin Tomkins
Located in New York, NY
The definitive collection of artist profiles by legendary journalist and New Yorker writer Calvin Tomkins, from the 1960s to today In 1959, Calvin Tomkins interviewed Marcel Duchamp for Newsweek, beginning his six decade- long career writing about art. He then joined The New Yorker, where he has contributed dozens of profiles on the most interesting artists of the time, from Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg to Cindy Sherman and Mark Bradford. This six-volume set includes 82 of Tomkins's most significant profiles dating from 1962-2019. Part art history, part human interest, Tomkins offers insights and observations about the artists, their work, and the ever-changing art world they inhabit. Calvin Tomkins has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1960. He has written more than a dozen books, including The Bride and the Bachelors, Merchants and Masterpieces, Living Well Is the Best Revenge, Off the Wall, Duchamp: A Biography, and Lives of the Artists...
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Bruce Weber by Bruce Weber, 1st Limited Edition
Located in valatie, NY
Bruce Weber by Bruce Weber. Published by Twelvetrees Press, Los Angeles, 1983. Stated 1st Limited Edition (1/5000) hardcover with dust jacket. Beautifully illustrated with over 50 full-page photogravure plates of male models and actors, a few tinted with halftone colors. Contains subjects: Brothers, Matt...
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Late 19th Century Table Lectern Book Stand - Gothic - Copper Bronze
Located in Casteren, Noord-Brabant
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Maitland Smith Flame Mahogany Brass Mounted Magazine Rack Canterbury
Located in Swedesboro, NJ
This is a gorgeous magazine rack or centerbury which can be used for sheet music or of course magazines. The piece is in good condition and has minimal signs of wear. Measures 24 wid...
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The English Country House Book by James Peill
By James Peill
Located in New York, NY
The English Country House By: James Peill Foreword by Julian Fellowes Photographs by James Fennell “I am sure that this book will give great pleasure to any who open its covers.” —Julian Fellowes, from the Foreword Stately, grand, and a testament to the generations who have cared for them, the 10 English country houses featured in this volume are architecturally distinctive and filled with evocative family memorabilia, from commissioned portraits to monogrammed heirloom dinner services to the bells that once summoned the downstairs staff. Like the fictional Downton Abbey, these real homes are still in the hands of descendants of the original owners. From Kentchurch Court, which has been the seat of the Scudamore family for nearly 1,000 years, to a delightful Gothic house...
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A House in the Country Book by Peter Pennoyer and Katie Ridder
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A House in the Country By: Peter Pennoyer and Katie Ridder with Anne Walker Photography by Eric Piasecki Nestled amid the lush, gently rolling hills of cattle and horse farms in Millbrook, New York, is a handsome Greek Revival house that looks like it’s always been there. In fact, it is brand new—the collaborative effort of architect Peter Pennoyer and his wife, interior designer Katie Ridder...
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Library of Antique Leatherbound Books
Located in Brønshøj, DK
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Van Gogh a Retrospective 1986 1st Edition
Located in North Hollywood, CA
Van Gogh a Retrospective 1986 1st edition. Large beautiful heavy hardcover coffee table book. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1986. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Very Good in a Very Good dust jacket. Dimensions:13.50 X 10.5 X 1.50 inches. * Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hugh Lauter Levin Associates; First edition. (January 1, 1986) * Language ‏ : ‎ English * Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 385 pages Synopsis: This is a very useful book. If you are interested only in the reproductions (good drawings as well as paintings), you will enjoy their high quality--and the breadth of Vincent's work that they cover. If you are interested in primary resources about van Gogh's life--newspaper articles; letters and reminiscences from friends, fellow artists, relatives--this volume is a real treasure. Between the excellent reproductions and the extraordinarily fine collection of biographical materials, this must be the best one-volume source on van Gogh. By the time he died in 1890 at the age of thirty-seven Vincent van Gogh had painted hundreds of pictures, yet sold only a few. Today his paintings sell for millions of dollars each, and his life as an artist is legendary. He is the quintessential modern artist, operating on the edge of his sensibilities, where life and art are inextricably bound together. Van Gogh : a retrospective tells the story of the great Dutch artist as a single volume has never told it before, illuminating his work with a fascination selection of primary texts, including some of Van Gogh's letters. In 125 superb color reproductions and 103 black-and-white illustrations, the struggles and triumphs of Van Gogh's art are surveyed from the early dark landscapes and paintings of Dutch and Belgian laborers to the bright, intense visions of Paris, Arles, Saint Remy, and Auvers, where he took his life. Complementing the works are pertinent photographs from the period and portraits of the artist by Toulouse-Lautrec, Emile Bernard, Paul Gauguin, and others. Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. From Publishers Weekly "He did not paint his pictures; it was like he exhaled them in a gasping, boiling breath," one German critic aptly wrote of Van Gogh. Reminiscences of the artist by friends and passing acquaintances, letters from his brother Theo and appreciations by critics and artists make up the text of this handsomely packaged potpourri. For Margritte, the blind force of Van Gogh's obsessions made the tortured artist an unfree man. To Kokoschka, the tension in the painter's famous sunflowers and undulating cypresses speak of the fragility of an easygoing lifestyle in a mechanized age. Each artist seems to confront his or her own concerns when analyzing Van Gogh. Jean Renoir, Francoise Gilot, Gauguin and Klee are among the commentators. One hundred twenty-five superior color reproductions and 103 halftones remind us that Van Gogh could do a very formal Still Life with Coffeepot, a street scene ablaze with fauve-like color or the solemn, biblical Raising of Lazarus...
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Previously Available Items
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Journal of a Voyage to Madras and India in 1812-1813 with 24 Hand Colored Prints
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Regency Style Painted Library Ladder
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Regency Style Painted Library Ladder
Regency Style Painted Library Ladder
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Regency books for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a broad range of unique Regency books for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the 19th Century, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage books created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include more furniture and collectibles and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with animal skin, leather and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Regency books made in a specific country, there are Europe, England, and United Kingdom pieces for sale on 1stDibs. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for books differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $175 and tops out at $3,099 while the average work can sell for $2,178.

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