“It was meant to be used by both professional craftsmen and elite ‘young ladies’ seeking a pastime. The book was created to provide a less expensive alternative to the rare and expensive lacquered items then being brought back to Europe by travellers to the far East, which were in great demand. It offers basic technical advice on varnishing methods, gilding, decorative graining, and the preparation of pigments. Twenty-four engravings depict chinoiserie-style patterns of buildings, figures, plants, and birds; many of these patterns were inspired by Johann Nieuhof’s 1665 guide to China...” - S. Van Dyk, Rare Books Cooper Hewitt (2001), p. 68 and illus. This was the first chinoiserie pattern book to be published in England. It is also included in Hofer’s Baroque Book Illustration, pl. 17, who states “an early reflection of the eastern influences which entered European decorative arts during this period.” Ward-Jackson, English furniture designs, gives a good note stating that this “same book was issued twice again in the year of publication with different title-pages. Apart from a few minor alterations, the titles read as before, but in the one case the order in which the names are given is reversed and in the other John Stalker is mentioned as the sole author...”; he also states that the illustrations on gilding were the clearest and most complete since Cennino Cennini’s handbook, published in the fifteenth century. The reason for the book’s rarity is that it was literally “used to pieces”; in Chapter XIV the author advises his readers to “take the designs out of this book”, prepare the versos with whiting, and use the prepared plates to transfer the designs to the box or table to be decorated. Wing S 5187B. As well as serving as patterns, the book is a work of art it its own right. (Charles Wood, Cat. 160: 213)
A treatise of japaning and varnishing, being a compleat discovery of those arts