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Desks
Desks Desks come in all sorts of guises. From the typical four-legged, simple type of thing made from pine – the sort we all used at school – to the most extravagant and mind-bogglingly expensive Louis XV bronze-mounted and exotic-timbered museum pieces. The first pieces of furniture referred to as desks were not a bit like we might imagine. The original desks were actually just writing boxes with sloped, lift-up lids. Because they were never any wider than 3ft they were easily transportable from place to place. These boxes could be placed on top of any table wherever whoever had them were, which meant they could write their correspondence while moving about the country, or, if they were travelling scribes, they could keep their employers’ ledgers and accounts up-to-date while on the road. They would keep all their writing implements, papers, and inks inside their boxes, too. I suppose they were the laptops of their day. These desk boxes worked well enough for many hundreds of years, but with the invention of the printing press, books became readily available and affordable – if not quite to the masses, to a significant proportion of the population – and they no longer needed to be hand-written by scribes or chained to tables for security. With the natural growth, then, of reading and writing, it wasn’t long before someone turned desks from a simple boxes into free-standing pieces of furniture with their own legs attached. The flood gates of design and imagination were opened and the shape of new desks was born. Here are some of my favourites: The Davenport Desk Davenport desks are lovely little pieces which originated during the late 1700s. Known for their tall, upright shape, ability to seat only one person, an array of drawers running down one side, and normally a blank set running down the other, their sloped tops open upwards and reveal interiors fitted out with compartments for holding pens, ink, paper, and letters. The nicest ones also have galleries fitted to the top to stop pens and other items from falling down the back. They are normally fitted with bun feet and almost always have castors to enable them to move about with ease. Even though the Davenport started life in the late 18th century, it didn't get its current name until around 1830. Legend has it that a Captain Davenport placed an order with of the best-known and respected cabinetmakers of the day – Gillows of Lancaster – for one of these neat little desks. During the making of this particular desk, the order was referred to as ‘The Davenport Order’, and from that time on the name stuck. Davenport desks are often seen as barometers of the health and success of the antique business. If prices for these desks are up, then generally so is the trade. Likewise, if they are down, we can be sure there are some sad antique dealers crying into their cravats. The most expensive Davenports are generally the earlier ones, those from the first half of the 19th century. After this, they began to be mass-produced, with quality being exchanged for quantity. However, a late-19th-century Davenport can be bought for only a few hundred pounds, and it will likely still be much better quality than a modern reproduction costing much more. Expect to pay a few thousand pounds for a really nice one. Partners Desk Partners desks were created as functional and practical desks at which two people could work at the same time. They are probably the best examples of the exact opposite to the Davenports. If you have a great, big room and fancy creating the most wonderful library or study possible, you can’t get a better central feature than a partners desk. Plonk it in the middle of the room, or set it back from a window, scatter some nice, comfy chairs around, fill a few bookcases with old and colourful leather-bound books, add the odd table here and there, a few good lamps, some family pictures in old silver frames, and you’re done! It is difficult to mistake partner desks for any other sort of desk, as they are truly huge, always have drawers or cabinets on both sides, and are, of course, deep enough for two people to have enough space to work while facing each other. Partners desks were particularly popular with such types of small firms as solicitors, accountants, and land agents, and were also made for large private houses. They were at their height during the 19th century. A fine-quality mahogany one from the mid-19th century might set a person back upwards from three to four thousand pounds, whereas more basic ones made from oak can be bought for under a thousand. Bureau Bookcase As the name suggests, these are writing bureaus with bookcases sitting on top. The sloping front of each bureau folds down and is held in place as a flat writing surface by a couple of strong arms which pull out from within the carcass. The insides of these bureaus contain drawers and compartments for all sorts of writing equipment, with useful sets of drawers below the writing slopes. Antique bureaus often contain hidden compartments cleverly disguised behind the backs of drawers, underneath what appear to be solid pieces of timber, or in what might look like completely blank panels. You need to know where to look to find these little potential treasure troves, and when you do the joy is overwhelming. I once found ten and couldn't sleep for days. These are truly multifunctional pieces of furniture. The earliest bureau bookcases date to the very early 1700s and can easily command many tens of thousands of pounds, but a decent late-19th-century one can be bought for around a couple of thousand. David Harper 2007
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