Shearer, Thomas, London (1788). Signed seventeen of the twenty plates in The Cabinet-Makers’ London Book of Prices, published by the London Society of Cabinet Makers in 1788. This volume was a practical manual containing tables of prices to help masters and journeymen calculate the cost of labour in making various representative items of furniture (excluding chairs, carved work and upholstered pieces). The plates, which illustrate objects described in the text, are in a fluent style that bridges the short interval between Hepplewhite's Guide and Sheraton's Drawing Book. Since the Book of Prices was widely used on the workbench, furniture corresponding, often exactly to Shearer's elegant designs, is relatively common. It is likely that he was a journeyman cm rather than a professional designer. It may be relevant that an insurance policy taken out on 19 May 1790 by J. H. Sherwood of 75 Aldersgate St, London [GL, Sun MS ref. 569755] included cover on a dwelling house in ‘Little Bartholomew Close’ and £100 for stock in the house of Shearer, cabinet maker ‘in the said Close’. [R. Fastnedge, Shearer Furniture Designs from the Cabinet-Makers’ London Book of Prices 1788, 1962; Conn., June 1961, pp. 30–33; Furn. Hist., 1966 and 1982] C.G.G.