(383) Bookcases

A bookcase, or bookshelf, is a piece of furniture, almost always with horizontal shelves, used to store books. A bookcase frequently has doors that may be closed to protect the books, bookshelves are open-fronted. These doors are usually glazed, so as to allow the spines of the books to be read.

Bookcases are not just for storing books. Many customers use them to display treasured photos, heirlooms and collectibles.

We offer a diverse selection of styles, including the popular mission bookcase that our customers love.

If material is what matters most, you will find a great selection of oak bookcases and other wood choices too.

History of the Bookcase

When books were written by hand and were not produced in great quantities, they were kept in small containers which owners (usually the wealthy or clergy) carried with them. As manuscript volumes accumulated in religious houses or in homes of the wealthy, they were stored on shelves or in cupboards. These cupboards are the direct predecessors of today's bookcases. Later the doors were discarded, and the evolution of the bookcase proceeded. Even then, however, the volumes were not arranged in the modern fashion. They were either placed in piles upon their sides, or if upright, were ranged with their backs to the wall and their edges outwards. The band of leather, vellum or parchment which closed the book was often used for the inscription of the title, which was thus on the fore-edge instead of on the spine.

It was not until the invention of printing had greatly reduced the cost of books, thus allowing many more people direct access to owning books, that it became the practice to write the title on the spine and shelve books with the spine outwards. Early bookcases were usually of oak, which is still deemed by some to be the most appropriate wood for an elegant library.

Other Languages

• Japanese:本箱
• German: Der Bücherschrank
• French: Bibliothèque
• Spanish: Estantería