One chapter for the Ancient World, one for the fall of Rome to that of Constantinople (Phantom Time fans would love that), one for the Renn before the Stuarts. Of course there's a lot on the grand furniture of Versailles and all, but the author is so good as to note the introduction of Chinese and Japanese elements, though he is very tentative in knowing anything about them (he might have asked a Chinese furniture fancier about the thousands of years of history they had uninterrrupted by Dark Ages).

In short, while pulling in the usual suspects in Europe, he bites off rather more than he can chew, as if he had started with a very comprehensive outline of what *The Illustrated History of Furniture All Around the World from the Beginning of Time* ought to be, and then really couldn't well write someof the chapters. At the time of writing, simply so much less was known of the ancient Mideast, so much less had been excavated, that he looks really weak to us.

On the other hand, if you barely have a clue yourself, this is a good starting point, from which you can then go read more modern things (like *Chinese Furniture in Measured Drawings* or *Egyptian Furniture*) to fill in his gaps. Certainly, he's a good basis for the Western European style development.