“ SHEARER, THOMAS, English 18th-century furniture designer and cabinet-maker. The solitary biographical fact we possess relating to this distinguished craftsman is that he was the author of most of the plates in The Cabinet Maker's London Book of Prices and Designs of Cabinet Work, issued in 1788 “For the London Society of Cabinet Makers.” The majority of these plates were republished separately as Designs for Household Furniture. They exhibit their author as a man with an eye at once for simplicity of design and delicacy of proportion. ”