This trade catalog, which contains more than 100 photographs of furniture in the “modern” gothic style, is one of the only remaining works to visually document the furniture designed by the renowned New York cabinetmakers, Kimbel & Cabus. Anthony Kimbel emigrated from Germany in the late 1840s and partnered with Anton Bembe to form Bembe and Kimbel in 1854, creating furniture in the Rococo-revival style. Shortly after Bembe died, Kimbel founded a new firm in 1862, known as Kimbel & Cabus, with the French-born cabinet-maker, Joseph Cabus.
Inspired by the writings of British designers Bruce J. Talbert and Charles Locke Eastlake, Kimbel & Cabus developed a line of furniture in the “modern” gothic style in the 1870s, which is illustrated in this rare catalog. Their furniture won great acclaim at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and is characterized by the use of ebonized (blackened or stained) wood ornamented with incised gilt decoration, inlaid tiles, medieval patterns, distinctive strap-like hinges, and forms that reveal the structure of the piece. By the late 1870s, the firm was the leading interpreter of the gothic revival style prevalent for furniture and interiors in America. Kimbel & Cabus was dissolved in 1882 so that each partner could go into business with his own son.