How many Victorian bookcases come up for sale?

Around 260 are listed on Sellingantiques in a year, and 224 different dealers have carried one at some point. It's a form almost every general furniture dealer meets sooner or later. That spread means the run of ordinary open bookcases is steady, while breakfront library pieces and pairs surface far less often.

Which wood is most common?

Mahogany, named in 1,045 titles, then walnut in 552 and oak in 457. Pine and rosewood make up the next tier. Ash, elm, satinwood, satin birch, birdseye maple, amboyna, kingwood, olive wood, padauk and Gonçalo Alves each turn up only once in a blue moon.

What is a revolving bookcase?

A rotating shelved column or table, sometimes catalogued as a book table, library table or book mill. It accounts for 95 titles, so a small but persistent sub-population. Sizes run from table-top versions upwards, and the samples include a Chinese-style ebonised one and an Anglo-Indian one.

Are glazed bookcases more usual than open ones?

No. Open, doorless bookcases dominate at 975 titles against 252 that say glazed, and "door" appears in only 145. Glazed pieces often come as a bookcase over a solid cupboard base, or as two-door cabinets.

Why are so many listed only as Victorian?

Because that is how the trade dates them. "Victorian" alone is the date on 1,196 listings and another 232 say only "19th Century", leaving 998 with a clean year. Among those, the 1880s are the busiest decade, followed by the 1860s, the 1890s and the 1870s. Edwardian and 1920s entries are strays.

What unusual forms turn up in this category?

Beyond the standard shapes, the samples throw up a Green Man carved oak bookcase, a cartographer's campaign bookcase, a museum bookcase and a chinoiserie lacquered library bookcase. Smaller oddities include a book mill or reading table, a pokerwork novel rest, book troughs, book slides and pigeon-holed wall shelves.

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Victorian Bookcases

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Book furniture made in Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century, from small open shelves for a morning room up to breakfront library bookcases seven feet wide.