This book is based on analysis of the 10,788 inventories filed in Chester and Philadelphia between 1682 and 1849. So well kept and so complete are these records that for the 167 year period under study, inventories for only 525 estates are missing. In the present publication, the Table of Contents suggests the wealth of facts that Mrs. Schiffer has gleaned from these basic documents that chart so exactly what categories is noted as to the time of its first appearance and the frequency of its later occurrence. Among the topical listings are "Amusements, bed coverings, ceramics, clothing, colors, curtains, floor convering, furniture, lighting, linens, mantlepieces" and so on to "textiles" which includes references to 122 different cloths among which are "non so pretty, swans-down, thickset and Victoria."