What wood are Edwardian bookcases usually made from?

Mahogany runs through nearly half of the titles, at 773 of 1,568. Oak is second with 418, walnut third at 128. Everything else is thin on the ground. Satinwood, rosewood, elm, pitch pine and pollard oak each surface only a handful of times, and satinwood in particular tends to appear toward the upper end of the range.

How does a revolving bookcase work?

It's a column of shelves turning on a central pivot, so books can be reached from a chair without getting up. Titles usually give the tier count: two, three or four. Most are floor-standing drums. Table-top and desk-top miniatures form a small sub-form, including one described as a bird cage and another on an iron base.

Are glazed Edwardian bookcases common?

Less common than open ones. Glazed appears in 104 titles and doors in 47, against 345 for open, doorless shelved cases. The glazed and doored group covers cabinet-bookcases, breakfronts, display cabinets and secretaire bookcases with a fall-front writing drawer. Astragal glazing, with slender bars dividing the glass, is named in 19 titles.

What is a sectional or stacking bookcase?

One built from separate units stacked on top of each other, each with its own front, so a case can grow a unit at a time. Section counts of three, four, five and six recur. These are the most brand-conscious pieces in the category. Sectional stacking cases carry a trade name in their titles more often than any other form here.

Why do some pieces predate the Edwardian period?

The labels get used loosely. Pieces titled Edwardian carry dated values of 1880, 1890 or simply Victorian, and only 557 of the listings give a clean year at all. Georgian, Regency and eighteenth-century secretaire bookcases also sit inside the heading, and they occupy the very top of the range.

Do book troughs and racks count as bookcases?

They're filed here, yes. Book troughs appear in 32 titles, alongside book slides, book racks, magazine racks, a book table and a library book stand. A trough is a shallow V or double-sided rack, either table-top or on a stand. A slide extends to hold a row of books. Together they make up the small tail at the lower end.

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Edwardian Bookcases

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Bookcases made in Britain around the turn of the twentieth century, mostly mahogany or oak, built to hold books in the studies, offices and small sitting rooms of middle-class houses.