What wood are open bookcases usually made from?

Mahogany and oak dominate, with walnut and rosewood behind them. Between them these four account for the biggest terms in the titles. Beyond that the range thins fast. Satinwood, birdseye maple, pollard oak, satin birch and goncalo alves each appear only once or twice across the archive.

How wide do they get?

Width is the rarest boast in these listings, and only a handful of titles state a measurement at all. The widest sampled run to six, eight and nine feet. Those are breakfront and library cases. The default is a domestic single-piece case of three to five shelves.

Are the shelves adjustable?

Usually not. Adjustable shelving is called out in only a small share of titles, so fixed shelves are the norm. Where adjustable does appear, it keeps company with library and breakfront descriptions and sits in the upper part of the range.

Which periods are best represented?

Victorian is the commonest label, with 19th Century next, and both cover a lot of ground without narrowing it. Under half the listings carry a clean year at all. Decades cluster twice: the 1860s through 1890s, then the Edwardian years through the 1920s and into the 1930s. Regency appears steadily, Georgian seldom.

Do open bookcases come in pairs?

More often than you would guess. Pairs run across the whole spread, from small dark oak to rosewood, walnut and Regency cases. They sit consistently towards the upper half of the range, and pairs share the very top with country-house commissions.

How often do named makers turn up?

Attributions are scarce. Gillows is claimed by four dealers and Maple & Co by three, and no other name reaches even that. Around 343 open bookcases are listed on Sellingantiques in a year, and 225 different dealers have handled one, so this is a form the general furniture trade meets rather than a specialism.