London Chronicle

The London Chronicle or Universal Evening Post, Saturday 19 March-Tuesday 22 March 1763. Published between 1757 and 1765 and issued thrice weekly, it contained a mix of national and world news, together with news and advertising for events and entertainments in London. This issue included an advertisement for the third edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, ‘Complete in one large Folio Volume. Price 3l. bound'. The advertisement was the culmination of a campaign of publishing and advertising which began in October 1759, a few months after the rival firm of Ince and Mayhew announced their intention to issue a series of 160 designs which ultimately became The Universal System of Household Furniture. Rather than collect subscriptions for a complete volume as Chippendale had done in 1754, they proposed publishing weekly sets of four plates, price one shilling. Although they failed to maintain the onerous schedule (the complete Universal System contained only 95 plates when published in 1762) Chippendale was sufficiently worried to respond with a serial publishing plan of his own, and the first four plates of what became the Director's third edition were advertised on 6 October 1759. Further advertisements appeared on 11 and 18 October, and engravings were issued weekly until March 1760, when Chippendale announced a pause. He attributed the delay to ill health, but it is possible that after Ince and Mayhew had ceased their serial publication in January, he chose to take stock and reconsider his plans.
By the time publication resumed in August 1760, Chippendale had expanded his project to include over one hundred new plates, rather than the fifty originally proposed. Although all the new designs had been issued by the end of February 1761, the bound single volume only became available in April the following year.

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