This print, produced around 1865, shows 141 styles of chair available for purchase from the Edwin Skull chair company of High Wycombe. The broadsheet print reads ‘Edwin Skull, manufacturer of every description of chairs, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire’. It also details awards the company won, and features designs for ‘Skull’s Patent Plectaneum Chair’, a well-known folding chair.
The Skull firm traces its roots back to Charles Skull (1780 – 1851), who was a local chair japanner (an Asian-inspired style of varnishing). Charles’ son, Edwin continued his work as a chair-maker. The Skull firm was eventually bought by the company that was to become Ercol in 1932.Â
Museum number HIWLH : 1994.1
