I’ve redesigned and relaunched RJHorner.com and to celebrate, I’ve made the complete 1888 Horner catalog (actually more of a pamphlet) available online at the site.  The drawing above is taken from the back cover.  Details are here.

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No this isn’t the predecessor to Ikea, but it is an interesting look into furniture designs in areas of the world other than the France, Italy, U.S., and U.K. that we’re used to.  This is an original catalog of furniture from Sweden in the late 1800s depicting furniture in a variety of styles of the period: Renaissance Revival, Eastlake, and Rococo.  Aside from chairs, cabinets, sofas, mirrors, and stands, one page even depicts ornate window drapery that they were offering.  More photos of the catalog at the Ebay listing for it.

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I’ve christened a new section of Rare Victorian that will house Adobe Acrobat versions of original manufacturer catalogs that I have collected. Right now there is only one - The Dawley Furniture Company from 1897 - but hopefully there will be more coming soon.  You can access it from the Reference section on the far right sidebar.

I will require that everyone register with Adobe Online Center so that I can secure these documents, if needed in the future. You will be able to download, save and print the catalogs, but only if you have a username and password from Adobe. Instructions are on the Catalog page.

If you are interested in making catalogs that you own available to Rare Victorian visitors, I will be able to put security around printing, saving, and copying while permitting viewing, if you prefer.  The Dawley catalog is fully open.

As this section is new, please provide your feedback and I’ll try to make adjustments as needed.

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