How many sets come up for sale each year?

Around 32 sets come to market on Sellingantiques in a year, and 106 different dealers have listed them across the archive. That works out at close to one dealer per three listings, so almost nobody carries them in quantity. They turn up singly, from general stock.

What wood are library steps usually made from?

Mahogany leads, in 107 of 330 titles, with oak in 47 and pine in 34. The pairing mahogany library alone accounts for 66 titles. Other timbers surface once or twice each rather than as a group: yew, elm, camphor wood, ash, fruitwood, satinwood and pitch pine all appear in the archive.

Are metamorphic steps common in this category?

They are a persistent minority. Seventeen titles say metamorphic, thirteen of those metamorphic library, and nine mention a chair. The sampled examples convert into a chair, a side chair, a stool, and in one case a combined easel.

Why are so many just dated 19th century?

Ninety listings carry that description and nothing more, which is over twice the count of any single decade. It is the commonest thing a buyer is told about age. Of the 152 listings with a clean year, the spread is bimodal: Victorian, Regency and Georgian at one end, and the 1900s to 1930s at the other.

Do bed steps and library steps differ?

Bed steps are low, two or three stages, made for climbing into a high bed. Library steps are a taller flight, often with a handrail or pole. Thirteen titles mention bed, including three-heights bed steps and a George III mahogany and line-inlaid set described as chamber steps.

Were any sets made outside Britain?

Foreign origins are uncommon in the archive. Eight titles say French, one of them an epicerie shop step. The outliers include a Japanese folding step ladder, a Japanese kaidan tansu step chest, and a set that came from a railway company.