Despite encompassing some of the most expensive items of furniture ever made, many bookcases are still to be found at affordable prices.

In the 1660s, the English diarist Samuel Pepys had a set of 12 oak cases made to house his collection of books. These are among the first recorded specialised bookcases made for a private individual. Previously, books were considered so precious that small cabinets were constructed to transport them safely from place to place. From the late 17th century, books were increasingly housed in large glazed and fitted bookcases, but it was more than a century before smaller bookcases became commonplace items. (more…)

Glass perches, delft racks, whatnots and canterburies are just a few of the strangely named solutions to our ancestors’ storage and display needs.

Chaucer, in the Miller’s table, written in the 14th century, refers to ‘shelves couched at his beddes head’ — probably for books — but shelving for more general uses was rare before the 16th century. By the 19th century, however, a whole variety of other storage and display solutions had appeared. (more…)

From plain Edwardian school clocks to cartel clocks mounted in elaborate ormolu, clocks to hang on the wall come in many shapes and sizes.

The ubiquitous wall dial of the Victorian and Edwardian periods is familiar from countless schools, kitchens and waiting rooms. In fact, wall clocks come in many forms, the fundamental distinction being between spring-driven clocks (which mostly run for eight days) and weight- driven clocks (mostly running for 3o hours). (more…)

No area of collecting can offer a wider range of objects, originating from a wider range of cultures and historical periods, than articles fashioned from clay.

In a typical home there are likely to be more objects made of ceramics — earthenware, stoneware and porcelain — than any other single category of material. Most will be of the 20th century, a fair proportion will be late Victorian, and perhaps a few pieces will be earlier. (more…)

It is colour and size that generally count most in pricing a dining table, and these considerations are as important today as two hundred years ago.

Antique dinning table available to a buyer today vary enormously in style, quality and price. A 17th-century refectory table in original condition is very hard to come by, for example, and may cost many thousands of pounds, whereas a Victorian reproduction can be bought for a few hundred. Small, foldaway breakfast tables, which first appeared in the early 19th century as one answer to the space restrictions of small town houses, are still extremely popular, and for similar reasons.

Before buying any antique table, you should check it carefully for alterations, as marrying a table top to a different undercarriage is fairly common. (more…)

Early Sofas

During the late 18th century, both Thomas Chippendale and Robert Adam produced gilded sofas that were strongly influenced by the contemporary French Neoclassical-style canapé’. These masterpieces have a padded oval back, padded arms and seat in contemporary Aubusson tapestry, and can be worth tens of thousands of pounds. Good 19thC and 2oth-century copies themselves fetch £1500£2200, while lesser examples may change hands for £300-£500. The canapé proved an enduring design in Britain, and was produced throughout the 19th century. (more…)

Britain Swings ahead

In the mass market London led by the 196os. Newspaper colour supplements, introduced in 1962, helped to spread awareness of contemporary design. ‘Swinging Sixties’ people — whose taste in clothes included shift dresses, miniskirts and flared trousers — admired furnishings with a compact look spiced with novelty. British manufacturers were generally keen to explore plastics, glass fibre, fibreboard, PVC, smoked glass and spun aluminium. Robin Day’s moulded polypropylene stacking chair on a steel-rod base was first seen in 1963 and still has not dated. (more…)

Mark of Craftsman

The style was essentially nostalgic, much of its detail and ornament inspired by the Medieval -for example, the large metal hinges fitted on the outside of cabinet doors. The products looked handmade: wood was often left unpolished; beaten metal showed hammer marks; dowels were often left conspicuously visible. Glass was simply blown – cutting was disparaged as an industrial technique – so that the natural beauty of the material itself could be seen, unobscured by ornament. (more…)

Heavy handed Decor

Cosy family life remained the aim of mid- Victorians. This still demanded comfortable furnishings such as deep-buttoned chairs, ottomans and chesterfield sofas, but now everything had a heavier look, showed more wood — along the top of seat backs, for example — and bore fancy carving or fretwork. The front legs of the graceful balloon-back chairs were elaborated into carved cabrioles. (more…)

The enduring image of mid-Victorian style is a sombre drawing room with red flock wallpaper, heavy curtains and table covers trimmed with braids and fringes, thickly upholstered seating, and ornaments and knick-knacks jostling on the mantelpiece, on tables and on display shelves. In fact the clutter gathered gradually after 1850, but it was well established by the 1860s.

Mid-Victorian style is often dismissed as lack of style. Certainly it had no single vision, but embraced many visions with eclectic enthusiasm. Yet the numerous unrelated elements making up its cluttered effect were deliberately put together and the result was a recognisable look. It expressed what the newly rich chose to buy, and was the first style to reflect the taste of the broad middle band of society, not its small upper set. (more…)