How to clean a rosewood bookcase?

Keep it simple. Dust the wood lightly with a soft cloth. You can apply a good quality beeswax polish once or twice a year to feed the surface. Avoid modern spray polishes. They contain silicones that build up and cloud the finish over time.

My grandmother left me a large bookcase and it has these brass mesh grilles on the bottom doors instead of glass, is that normal for this type of wood?

Yes, brass grilles are common on the lower doors of antique rosewood bookcases. They often cover a pleated silk or cotton lining. These grilles allowed air to circulate while keeping dust off the contents. The fabric hid untidy items like maps or loose papers that weren't bound for display on the open shelves above.

Are the shelves adjustable?

Most do. The uprights normally have a series of holes holding small wooden pegs. If the shelves are fixed, check for later alterations.

I noticed some white marks and a lot of tiny cracks all over the surface of the doors on one I saw at auction, what causes that?

Those tiny cracks are called crazing. The original French polish or varnish breaks down over time due to sunlight and changes in humidity. The white marks usually happen when moisture gets trapped under that degraded finish. It is a surface issue rather than structural damage. A restorer can often revive the polish without having to strip the wood bare.

Home > Bookcases > Rosewood Bookcases > Page 2

Victorian Rosewood Bookcases

← Page 2 of 3 →

Antique rosewood bookcases are substantial storage pieces introduced to library and drawing room settings during the early nineteenth century, constructed with dark, densely figured veneers over secondary timbers to house expanding private collections of bound volumes.