ANTIQUE ARTS & CRAFTS FOUR SECTION BARRISTER BOOKCASE WITH LYRE CARVING AND DESK SECTION
With our highest compliments Bay Colony Antiques takes the utmost pleasure in offering this remarkable antique bookcase. These stacking bookcases, known as Barrister bookcases after their popularity with lawyers and legal scholars, are brilliantly designed to be taken apart in different sections and restacked upon each other in order to suit the needs of the user. This feature makes adding on to existing bookcases, or transporting the individual sections from one place to another, as easy as possible. This bookcase is comprised of six sections in total including the four primary units and the removable top crown and base. Quality barrister bookcases, particularly those made by Macey, Globe Wernicke, and Viking, are sought after by collectors across the country and have become immensely popular while also growing increasingly rare and more valuable with each passing year.
The exterior of the bookcase is constructed from a bold selection of tiger oak that is enhanced by a wonderful mission brown finish. The three units intended for storing books are fitted with doors that lift up and slide inwards with relative ease. The central writing desk unit features a drop-front writing surface that opens to reveal ten partitioned document paper storage sections. A beautiful carved lyre motif is affixed to the the center of the writing desk unit. It is possible that this custom detail was so placed because the desk unit was intended by the original owner to store musical sheet papers. The back of the bookcase still retains the original paper label indicating Grand Rapids Michigan as the location from where this piece was made. The red upside down triangular decal was used by several makers working in the famed furniture city at the turn of the 20th century. The bookcase measures 34 1/4” wide x 14 1/2” deep x 63 1/2” tall.
