All my books are up, my pictures hung, my standing desk in position, chairs and lounge, et cetera. Everything harmonizes with the fresco. I could not have a pleasanter study. – Edward A. Lawrence, Jr., letter to his mother Margaret Woods Lawrence, 1889 Sept

Sitting is the new smoking. – Health catchphrase, c.2009

I shall be compelled to buy a standing-desk, which will cost me from two to three dollars, as the older students advise me to have one as necessary to my health. – James Stokes Dickerson, letter to brother, 1842 October 13th

[T]hey marched and counter-marched, clapped their hands, stamped hard upon the floor, and performed various evolutions for the purpose of circulating the blood, which by sitting too long is apt to stagnate, and render them, particularly in this climate, dull and sleepy. – Joseph Holt Ingraham, South-West, 1835 [Originally published anonymously, “By a