




From the late 19th century onward, many coffee tables were subsequently made in earlier styles due to the popularity of revivalism, so it is quite possible to find Louis XVI-style coffee tables or Georgian-style coffee tables, but there seems to be no evidence of a table actually made as a coffee table before this time. Joseph Aronson in 1938 defined a coffee table as a low wide table now used before a sofa or couch, adding there is no historical precedent, perhaps suggesting they came late in the history of furniture. With the increasing availability of television sets from the 1950s onward, coffee tables came into their own, since they are low enough, even with cups and glasses on them, not to obstruct the view of the TV.