Antique Bookcases and Bookshelves.
Bookcases and bookshelves
The early history of the bookcase is tied up with the development of monastic and collegiate book collections. Books were a great luxury long after the invention of printing, and even the wealthiest people who knew how to read were unlikely to possess more than a few, which Could easily be stored in a chest or cupboard. The bookcase developed both in its own right, as a piece of library furniture, and in conjunction with other pieces such as bureau bookcases. The first bookcases of any significant note date from the early 18th century.
18TH-CENTURY BOOKCASES
Early 18th-century bookcases are extremely rare, and were made in oak veneered in walnut, of simple design and proportions. Examples were flat fronted and of two sections: the upper section was glazed with simple rectangular panes, while the lower section had two doors behind which were drawers. By the mid-1730s the form had become increasingly heavy and architectural, in the manner promoted by William Kent (c.1685-1748). Features include a broken pediment, pilasters, and richly carved Classical decoration.
By the mid-18th century the severely architectural Palladian-style bookcase was displaced by the lighter Rococo style. A familiar bookcase design, comprising a main central break-front section and two side wings retaining its upper glazed section, was developed. The preferred wood for bookcases, as with all furniture of this period, was mahogany. The scrolled pediment above the break-front centre was often pierced after 1750. Thomas Chippendale (1718-79) included 14 designs for bookcases in the third edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1762). Until c.1750, solid glazing-bars were used to retain the rectangular panes of glass in the upper section. After this time they were largely replaced by astragals (glazing-bars with semicircular profiles), which could be arranged in more elaborate and varied patterns, including Gothic and chinoiserie designs. The astragal decoration usually conforms to that on the rest of the bookcase.
From c.1770, Neo-classicism became by far the most important influence on the design of fashionable bookcases. The architect Robert Adam (1728-92) specifically designed large bookcases to correlate with the architecture and overall decoration of the rooms for which they were intended; they were usually made to stand in recesses. Some bookcases were made in satinwood while others were made in inexpensive pine and painted in various colours with gilded enrichments. Adam’s designs were published and particularly well received in Italy, and his influence may be seen in rare examples of grand, painted, and parcel-gilded Neoclassical Italian bookcases of the late 18th century.
The bookcases detailed in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide (1788-94) by George Hepplewhite (d.1786) were even more luxurious; the doors were veneered with waved or curled mahogany, which was sometimes crossbanded and inlaid, and were fitted with simple ring handles. The designs in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterers Drawing Book (1791-1802) by Thomas Sheraton ( 1751-1806) illustrated a new fashion for a lighter, narrower bookcase with a taller lower section. This type of bookcase was typically veneered in satinwood and topped with a lightly scrolled or lunette-shaped pediment, vase finials, and delicate mouldings. Some bookcases contained gathered silk curtains behind shelves in the centre, bordered by panels or doors, “calculated to contain all the books that may be required in a sitting-room without reference to the library”. This generally featured applied metal ornaments and gilded columns or terminals. Revolving bookcases were introduced c.1810, initially in circular form, although rectangular shapes were also produced;
rectangula examples of this space-saving form were made during the Victorian and Edwardian periods.
A great change took place in the early 19th century, initiated by the London publisher William Pickering (1796-1854), who issued books in cloth bindings, thus reducing their price and bringing them within reach of the general public. Machines were introduced for gluing, rather than sewing, the pages together. Together with the expansion of education, book-buying was encouraged. The increasingly literate population therefore created a demand for attractive book-storage space. Gothic Revival bookcases were generally made in oak and were in a style that was interpreted either as a basic functional bookcase, with decorative architectural details grafted onto it, or as a more authentic interpretation with exposed joints. This rather masculine style was considered to be an appropriate one for the Victorian library. One of the most popular types during the 19th century was the secretaire bookcase.
19TH-CENTURY BOOKCASES
In The Cabinet Dictionary ( 1803), Sheraton referred to the “bookshelf” or bookstand, which was a set of light, low, open bookshelves with socket casters on the feet, making it easy to move. There was a
variety of designs, some of which resembled the open-tiered whatnot or etagere. Dwarf bookcases were also in use at this time, and were particularly suitable for delicate Neoclassical decoration. In his book A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and
Interior Decoration (1808), George Smith (active c.1786-1828) recommended placing a dwarf bookcase at each end of a room, with a library table in between, to produce “a grand and pleasing effect”. Also popular was a hybrid version of a low bookcase and a commode, with revolving bookcase.
The patent for the revolving bookcase, a way of storing books and saving wall space, was taken out by Benjamin Crosby in 1808. This type of British rectangular mahogany bookcase was particularly popular in the Edwardian period and continues to be made today.
• ALTERATIONS make sure that the proportions of the bookcase are correct, as some were reduced in height or width in order to fit into the smaller 20th-century room: a large bookcase with up to six sections may well have been reduced to four, which could affect the Value of a piece considerably; pediments have often been flattened off, again so that the bookcases can fit into a room with a lower ceiling.
• GLAZING the astragals should be rebated into the door frame, and this should be visible on the inside of the door; in later 19th-century versions the glass is usually of one piece, and the mullions arc simply laid on top.
• PROPORTIONS the glazed section of a late 18th-century bookcase is frequently less deep than the base.
• MARRIAGES as in all two- or three-part furniture, it is important to establish that all the parts started life together and that the following features correspond: the quality, colour, patina, and figuring of the wood; the methods of construction; the decorative details such as applied moulding.