[definitely incomplete -- we need some images] In "Chisels and other paring tools", Paul Hasluck, 1903: 35-59) combines diagrams, illustrations and descriptive text showing amateur woodworkers many aspects about these venerable woodworking tools.
A chisel about 7" to 9" in length. Used for cutting recesses for hinges, locks and so forth, where accuracy of cutting is essential. home craftsman 4 may june 1935 p 220
For rough work, a chisel designed to stand up to being beaten by a hammer or mallet.
The make selected should be the FIRMER-CHISEL, the form of which is shown in Fig. 5. These are made in sixteen graduated widths, from 1/8 inch to 2 inches, but the following eight sizes will be sufficient for all ordinary purposes, 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/2, and 2 inches. The amateur, in the earlier stages of his operations, will probably find several of these sizes unnecessary; but as such chisels are not expensive articles, he may fairly aim at possessing the suggested selection if not the complete set. He will, of course, purchase the chisels handled and ready for final sharpening.
Source: George Ashdown Audsley, Amateur Joinery in the Home: a Practical Manual for the Amateur Joiner on the Construction of Articles of Domestic Furniture Boston: Small, Maynard & Co, 1916, page 42.
A chisel about a foot long capable of withstanding the driving blows of a mallet or hammer. It often is capped with leather.
Source:Home Craftsman 4 May-June 1935 page 220.My Firmer Chisel for [rough work] is less delicate, a beater firmer chisel with a polycarbonate handle and a 4-inch blade, of a type that is sometimes called a Pocket Chisel, which refers to its length (6 to 8 inches) and to where it lives: it lives in a pocket of my toolpouch, and serves for most rough work. It was designed to be struck—brace yourself—with a hammer, although that's carrying heavy-duty a bit far. Remodelers often keep one of these expendables for general use, or else a sturdy mortise chisel (larger, wood-handled, with an overall length upwards of a foot.) The blades are often quite short from repeated grinding after hitting nails.
Source: Jeff Taylor, Tools of the Trade: The Art and Craft of Carpentry (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1996) page 133.
A chisel with a straight-cutting edge running at an angle to the handle and beveled on its two flat sides.
Source: Home Craftsman 4 May-June 1935 page 220.
Sources: Paul Hasluck, The Handyman's Book London: Cassell, 1903 [reprinted in paperback format, 1998], pages 35-59; George Ashdown Audsley, Amateur Joinery in the Home: a Practical Manual for the Amateur Joiner on the Construction of Articles of Domestic Furniture Boston: Small, Maynard & Co, 1916; Home Craftsman 4 May-June 1935 p 220; Jeff Taylor, Tools of the Trade: The Art and Craft of Carpentry San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1996, page 133.