Bookcase

bookcase, piece of furniture fitted with shelves, often enclosed by glass doors, to hold books. A form of bookcase was used in early times: the illuminated manuscript Codex Amiatinus (ad 689–716) in Florence contains an illustration of the prophet Ezra writing in front of a cupboard with open doors that reveal shelves holding books. Ambries (recesses in walls) were used to hold books from the earliest times. Even after the invention of printing, books were still such a rare luxury that they were commonly kept in a chest or on one shelf beneath a desk. The history of bookcases was also connected with the medieval fittings of college libraries in Britain.

In the Bodleian Library at Oxford, presses (medieval cupboards) were abandoned in favour of shelves rising to such a height that a gallery was introduced for ease of access. This system was adopted in a number of great Palladian houses in Britain in the first half of the 18th century.

Twelve oak bookcases made for the diarist Samuel Pepys are considered the earliest dated domestic examples. The first were installed in August 1666, and they are all now in the Pepys Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge.

In Italy fine built-in bookcases with pilasters, or recessed columns, sometimes with statues or carved urns on the cornice, also made their appearance in the 17th century. At the same time, the French were the first to use bookcases in which the upper part was panelled in glass instead of wood.

In Queen Anne’s reign in England (1702–14), bookcases became extremely simple, relying for effect on fine proportions and veneers. They normally had a straight front, the doors of the lower portion revealing drawers when open. Within a few years architectural characteristics such as pediments, cornices, and pilasters became prominent. This trend was less pronounced by 1750. Decoration could be elaborate, but, as Thomas Chippendale suggested in The Gentleman and Cabinetmaker’s Director (1st edition, 1754), “all may be omitted if required.” By this time, too, most large examples were blockfronted.

The classical revival affected the design of bookcases from about 1770, with an emphasis on simple forms and restrained detail. Introduced in the late 18th century were small revolving bookcases, circular or square, with open shelves diminishing in diameter from bottom to top; they turned on a central pillar resting on a base or claws.