Why are 20th century pieces in a Georgian category?

Because Georgian Revival and Georgian-style bookcases are catalogued under the same heading as period ones. Blocks of listings date to the 1900s, 1910s, 1920s and 1930s, 96 in all. The dated field runs 1750 to 1960 as a result. Titles reading 'Georgian style' or 'Georgian Revival' mark out that group.

What timber are they made of?

Mahogany, for the most part. It's named in 388 of 577 titles, including 64 mahogany secretaires and 57 mahogany breakfronts. The others are thin on the ground: walnut, satinwood, oak and rosewood run to the teens each. Partridge wood, sabicu, harewood, yew and pitch pine each turn up once, at the top of the range.

What's the difference between a secretaire and a bureau bookcase?

A secretaire bookcase has a flat writing surface behind a fall front or inside a pull-out fitted drawer. There are 102 of them in the archive. A bureau bookcase sits on a sloping-fall bureau base instead. Only 12 titles use the term, so it's the rarer of the two forms here.

Which type is the largest?

The breakfront library bookcase. One four-door example is described as ten feet wide, and the largest stated piece measures 238 by 286 by 62 cm. At the other extreme are hanging shelves, dwarf bookcases and desktop pigeon holes, all filed under the same heading.

No. Sixteen titles in 577 name a pair, among them pairs of alcove bookcases, waterfall bookcases and slim open bookshelves. Most of them sit well up the range, above singles of the same form.

Do unusual shapes ever appear?

Occasionally. Single examples include an octagonal freestanding bookcase, a four-sided collector's cabinet bookcase, a revolving bookcase, a double-sided open bookcase and a cylinder bookcase. There are also one-off regional attributions: Channel Island, Anglesey Welsh, Scottish and Irish.

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Georgian Bookcases

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Case furniture made to hold books, listed as Georgian or in the Georgian taste, and mostly in mahogany, running from hanging shelves to library breakfronts ten feet wide.