What wood are library bookcases usually made from?

Mahogany dominates. It names 531 of the 1,188 titles in the category, and oak follows at 215. Walnut accounts for 119 titles and rosewood 38. Beyond those, timbers like satinwood, amboyna, kingwood and partridge wood show up in single sampled titles rather than as a regular option.

How big do these bookcases get?

Sizes run from dwarf and "neat size" pieces up to cases measured in feet. Two separate 10ft four-door breakfronts and a 12ft late 19th-century library bookcase are recorded in titles, and one Georgian breakfront is given as 238 x 286 x 62 cm. At the other end, small revolving bookstands and book troughs take up little floor space.

Are open or glazed bookcases more common?

Open cases are the larger group, appearing in 238 titles and often described with adjustable shelves. Glazed and door-fronted cabinets are the second reading of the form, with glazed in 72 titles, door in 76 and cabinet in 86. Some of those sit on a cupboard or chest base.

What is a revolving bookcase?

A small unit that turns on a central pivot, made square, round or octagonal. Seventy-eight titles use the word, and "mahogany revolving" accounts for 26 of them. They belong to the later 19th and early 20th centuries, when book storage was sold as a modular or space-saving convenience. Rotary bookstands and book mill reading tables sit in the same family, and revolving pieces are rising as a share of current stock.

Why do dates on these listings vary so much?

The dated field spans 1800 to 1950, but only 441 of the 1,188 listings carry a clean year. The rest are filed under period words instead. "19th Century" is the largest single label at 224, then Victorian at 166, Edwardian at 75 and Georgian at 55. Where decades are given they cluster in the 1850s to 1900s, with the 1920s a real second group. Some titles carry a period label that sits oddly against the filed date, so title and date are worth reading together.

Do pairs of library bookcases come up?

Yes. Forty-five titles offer bookcases two at a time, and one sampled entry runs to a set of three stacking office bookcases. Pairs recur disproportionately in the upper half of the sampled range.