Online Catalogue last updated 17th of September 2023
Edited by Don H. Berkebile.
Dog carts, "shays", buckboards, sulkies, piano-box buggies, breaks, phaetons, depot, wagons, coaches, sleighs. ... These carriages are some of the finest representations of the nineteenth-century craftsmanship. They also reflect a great deal of nineteenth-century culture and life. This book makes the wonderful diversity of American carriages available to you in outstanding Victorian engravings.
Included are 168 illustrations of carriages, most from the period 1850 to 1900: chaises ("shays"), dog carts, governess carts (for children), stanhope gigs, hansom cabs, sulkies, road carts and pony carts, beach wagons, buckboards, piano box buggies (one of the most popular), shifting-seat buggies, Dearborn wagons, runabouts, skeleton wagons, surreys, breaks, extension-top phaetons, basket and mail phaetons, a spider phaeton, traps, a coupé rockaway, depot wagons, clarences, landaus, broughams, cabriolets, mountain wagons, opera buses, and many others, Sleighs include the booby-hut, Albany cutter, Portland cutter and box sleigh. Additional plates show trimming patterns.
Most of these illustrations are high-quality engravings made specially for the trade, and are therefore the most accurate representations of these carriages available. These sources include The Hub, The Carriage Monthly, The New York Coach-maker's Magazine, and manufacturers' catalogues. Photographs from the Smithsonian Institution are also included.
Don H. Berkebile, Associate Curator of the Smithsonian Institution's Division of Transportation, has made the selection and has provided a fine introduction to American carriages, their development and place in American life. He has also provided very fill captions to the illustrations which include all pertinent material, including indications of original size and colours.
Code No. 010117, ISBN 0486233286, $23.00