What wood are revolving bookcases usually made from?

Mahogany and oak between them account for most of the archive, mahogany appearing in half of all titles and oak in about a sixth. Walnut, including burr walnut, makes up roughly a tenth, much of it Victorian. Rosewood and satinwood turn up in smaller numbers and generally sit above the mahogany and oak middle of the range. Anything else is a one-off: ash, padouk, kingwood, ebonised wood and pollard oak each appear once or twice.

How old is a typical revolving bookcase?

Dated listings run from 1800 to 1930, but the bulk is much narrower. Edwardian is the largest single label, and about two-thirds of dated pieces fall between 1900 and 1915. Victorian examples are there in numbers, dated either to a decade such as the 1890s or with the broader labels "Victorian" and "19th century", which read as approximate. The 1920s and 1930s tail off quickly, and pieces dated before 1870 are isolated.

Are table-top revolving bookcases common?

They are under a tenth of the archive. Titles use table top, desk top, bookstand, small and occasionally miniature. These sit at the cheapest end of the range, and desk-top and bookstand descriptions dominate the lowest-priced listings. A free-standing case on a pedestal or cross base is the far more usual thing to meet.

What does inlaid mean on a revolving bookcase?

Lines, bands or marquetry in a contrasting timber let into the surface, most often satinwood or boxwood stringing on mahogany in the Sheraton-revival taste. One in four titles says inlaid, so decorated surfaces are a defining feature of the category. Marquetry proper, with shaped floral or pictorial veneers, is named on only a handful. Inlaid and figured pieces cluster in the upper half of the range.

How many tiers do they have?

Between two and five. Three and four are the counts named most often in titles. Tier count tracks with scale and with price position: large, oversized and country-house-scale cases run high, and the tallest so described is a five-tier oak example.

Which makers are named on revolving bookcases?

Attributions are the exception rather than the rule. Most listings describe the wood, period and form and leave it at that. Maple & Co, sometimes written Maples & Co, is the one name that recurs, whether stamped, labelled or given as an attribution. Pieces carrying a retailer's or maker's mark, along with registration marks or numbers stamped underneath, appear disproportionately above the middle of the range.

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Antique Revolving Bookcases

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A bookcase whose shelved body turns on a central pivot, built so a seated reader could bring any face of a reference set round to hand without leaving the chair.