Publisher's Synopsis
In the whole annals of British furniture and furnishing no enterprise has reached the same peak of international renown, no store has more fully justified its claim, as The Largest and Most Convenient Furnishing Establishment in the World, to be One of the Sights of London, than Maples. No family business has had as colourful a couple at its head as John Maple, who opened his Wholesale and Retail Drapery shop in London's Tottenham Court Road in 1841, and his son Blundell Maple, the 'tradesman' who, to the shock of Victorian and Edwardian society, became an MP, was created a baronet and, as a leading racehorse owner and breeder, was elected to the hallowed Jockey Club. From the start they aimed at an upper-class clientele, not only in London but in the shires, to whose country mansions Maples vans delivered beds and sofas, sideboards and tables made by their own craftsmen and upholsterers to exacting standards. Nobility and gentry drove to the vast Tottenham Court Road emporium to spend the day perambulating the huge stock furniture and fabrics, which they had seen illustrated in 400-page catalogues, displayed on the 40 acres of floor space and in 'specimen rooms' reflecting the comfortable elegance of their town and country mansions. Royalty came to Maples for 'style', for colour and design ideas which matched heir own, for cabinet making and upholstery of quality, which was their prime consideration. No palace, no hotel, theatre, concert hall or town hall was in the top league unless furnished and decorated by Maples - the hallmark of excellence, a household word in every country for patrician good taste. In France - the company had a showroom and workshop in Paris as they did in Buenos Aires - 'les meubles Maples' entered the language. In 1934, The Maples-Martyn Organisation become responsible for much of the interior decoration of famous ocean liners like the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth 1 and 2. Full illustrated with cartoons, engravings and photographs, many from private collections, the story of the one-time Largest Furnishing Establishment in the World makes entertaining reading. Well researched and with an extensive bibliography, this authoritative study volume makes a unique contribution to the social history of Britain, and provides an important insight into the changing fashions in furniture and decor from Victorian and Edwardian days, through the Twenties and Thirties to the very different circumstances of the post-war world.
