recommend a book on mission-style furniture design principles

[Tyler Davis]

I have a few projects coming up that I need some design guidance on.

I am leaning towards mission-style furniture. I am pretty confident in construction techniques, but I am very confused about what constitutes different styles.

I have seen references to mission style, craftsman, arts-and-crafts, stickley, greene/greene, etc. and I don't know how to tell them apart

for example, red or white oak, quarter or plain or rift-sawn, flush mount or overlay doors, raised panel or flat panel doors, toe kick style, panel construction or side slats, etc.

Is there a book that makes sense of all these details in a logical way?

[Glenn Clabo]

Here's a couple...

The 1912 and 1915 Gustav Stickley Craftsman Furniture Catalogs
http://www.amazon.com/Gustav-Stickle...reative=380797

Stickley Style: Arts and Crafts Homes in the Craftsman Tradition
http://www.amazon.com/Stickley-Style...reative=380797

[Don Bullock]

Tyler,
I can't recommend any one book that covers all that you are looking for. Amazon has a lot of different books on the subject. Many of their listed books have the "Look Inside" feature that lets you see the table of contents and some of the information contained in the book. Search words would be: craftsman furniture, arts and crafts furniture, mission furniture, prairie style furniture, greene and greene, stickley, frank lloyd wright, william morris, etc. Those should get you started. Sawmill Creek has a link http://www.sawmillcreek.org/amazon.php to their Amazon store. The Creek receives a small percentage of each sale and proceeds provide support for our Woodworking Forums.

[Tyler Davis]

thanks for the Stickley suggestions - my local library has them in stock, so I will check them out

mainly what I'm looking for is a "field guide" similar to the ones birdwatchers refer to. I'm not clear on what the identifying marks are for each style.

I see a lot of people use arts n crafts, craftsman, mission interchangeably which just confuses things...are they really different names for the same thing?

[Jim Becker]

Robert Lang's books are very nice and may be helpful to you. (He's also a member here at SMC)

[Jacob Griffith]

As you mentioned, don't forget the library. See if there's a way your local library can inter-library loan books from other libraries (it should be free). Our nearby university library has a vast amount of books on Mission/Arts & Crafts style.