A bookcase is a piece of furniture with shelves used to store books. When books were written by hand, they were accumulated and stored in shelves of the cupboard, later the doors were discarded and the cupboards were used as bookcases. These are made up of wood or iron mostly, and are available in various sizes and designs.
There are three different ways of arranging bookcases: Flat against the wall, in stacks or ranges parallel to each other giving space for the librarian to pass by or in bays or alcoves wherein the cases jut out into the room at right-angles to the wall –cases, where there is less space in the libraries, there is yet another system called mobile-aisle shelving wherein rows of bookcases are mounted on wheels and packed tightly together with only one or more aisles between them.
Antique bookcases are usually made up of oak (a tree whose wood is usually used in making furniture’s or floorings). There were many designers who made bookcases mostly glazed with little glazed lozenges encased in fretwork frames giving them an elegant look. Some of the designers made bookcases out of satinwood, rose wood, Maghony and even exotic timber inlaid with marquetry and mounted with chasted and glided bronze. There were dwarf bookcases which had a choice of having marble slabs. Antique bookcases also have designed carvings around the corners, there are also antique revolving bookcases which stores books and can be revolved for easy accessibility. Antique bookcases are easily available in any antique furniture shops and are also available online. |