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46-538: A bookcase may be fitted with glass doors that can be closed to protect the books from dust or moisture. Bookcase doors are almost always glazed with glass, so as to allow the spines of the books to be read. Especially valuable rare books may be kept in locked cases with wooden or glazed doors. A small bookshelf may also stand on some other piece of furniture, such as a desk or chest . Larger books are more likely to be kept in horizontal piles and very large books flat on wide shelves or on coffee tables . In Latin and Greek,

92-553: A bridge worksurface between the back credenza and front desk. During the North American recession of the early 1990s, many managers and executive workers were required to do word processing and other functions previously completed by typing pools and secretaries. This necessitated a more central placement of the computer on these "U-shape" suite desk systems. With computers more prevalent, "computer paper" became an office supply. The beginning of this paper boom gave birth to

138-530: A bureau, counter, davenport , escritoire , lectern , reading stand, rolltop desk , school desk, workspace, or writing desk . Desk-style furniture appears not to have been used in classical antiquity or in other ancient centers of literate civilization in the Middle East or Far East , but there is no specific proof. Medieval illustrations show the first pieces of furniture which seem to have been designed and constructed for reading and writing. Before

184-419: A carrying-case full of books. They were, and are, also marketed as "extensible bookcases". To help retain the books when being carried, a barrister's bookcase has glazed doors. As the shelves must still separate, the usual hinged doors opening sideways cannot be used; instead there is an "up and over" mechanism on each shelf, like an overhead door. The better quality cases use a metal scissor mechanism inside

230-449: A child's room. One of the most common is the bunk-bed desk, also called the " loft bed ". Until the late 1980s, desks remained a place for paperwork and "business machines", but the personal computer was taking hold in large and medium-sized businesses. New office suites included a "knee hole" credenza which was a place for a terminal or personal computer and keyboard tray. Soon, new office designs also included "U-shape" suites which added

276-466: A computer screen to guests or co-workers. Manufacturers have responded to this issue by creating "forward facing" desks where computer monitors are placed on the front of the "U-shape" workstation. This forward computer monitor placement promotes a clearer sight-line to greet colleagues and allows for common viewing of information displayed on a screen. Replacement of bulky CRT monitors with flat panel LCDs freed up significant room on desktops. However,

322-569: A desk, either on a separate chair or a built-in chair (e.g., in some school desks). Some people use standing desks to be able to stand while using them. The word "desk" originated from the Modern Latin word desca "table to write on", from the mid 14th century. It is a modification of the Old Italian desco "table", from Latin discus "dish" or "disc". The word desk has been used figuratively since 1797. A desk may also be known as

368-417: A fine house" ( domus ). When books were written by hand and were not produced in great quantities, they were kept in small boxes or chests which owners (usually the wealthy aristocrats 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 predecessors of today's bookcases. Later

414-508: A less austere appearance. These attempts were most successful as in the hands of the English cabinetmakers of the second half of the eighteenth century. Both Chippendale and Sheraton made or designed many bookcases, mostly glazed with little lozenges encased in fretwork frames, often of great charm and elegance. In the eyes of some, the grace of some of Sheraton's satinwood bookcases has rarely been equalled. The French cabinetmakers of

460-476: A one-piece school desk in the late 1880s that was built with a table section attached in front of a wooden seat and back rest. Before this, most students in America sat either on chairs or long benches at long tables. In homes, the term "student desk" designates a small pedestal desk , or writing table constructed for use by a teenager or a pre-teen in their room. It often is a pedestal desk, with only one of

506-579: A progressive businessman, Danner was credited with drawing a large trade and business to the city of Canton. In the great public libraries of the twentieth century, multilevel stacks often served as both structure and shelving, of iron , as in the British Museum where the shelves are covered with cowhide ; or steel , as in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. ; or of slate , as in

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552-674: A scroll.) Early bookcases were usually of oak , which is still deemed by some to be the most appropriate wood for an elegant library . The oldest bookcases in England are those in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, which were placed in position in the last year or two of the sixteenth century; in that library are the earliest extant examples of shelved galleries over the flat wall-cases. Long ranges of book-shelves are somewhat severe in appearance, and many attempts have been made by means of carved cornices and pilasters to give them

598-413: A small compartment over or under the work surface of the desk. The famous Wooton desk and others were the last manifestations of the "pigeonhole" style. The surfaces of some newer desks could be transformed into many different shapes and angles, and were ideal for artists, draftsmen, and engineers. A small boom in office work and desk production occurred at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of

644-435: A true barrister's bookcase must be portable with a heavy load of books. The more robust examples have folding handles at the ends of each shelf. Modern "decorator" copies of these may look the same, but are often too lightly constructed to be carried whilst loaded, or may even be simply a single fixed case like a normal bookcase, but with separate doors to each shelf to give the appearance of a barrister's bookcase. Similar to

690-400: Is a wide variety of plans available for woodworking enthusiasts to build their own versions. Modern mass-produced student desks are often made with laminate table tops and molded plastic seats in a combined single unit, with storage found under the desktop or on a wire shelf beneath the seat. There are many novel forms of student desks made to maximize the relatively restricted area available in

736-619: Is credited to Fu Xi in 544. Descriptions of revolving bookcases have been found in 8th- and 9th-century Chinese texts. Revolving bookcases were popularized in Buddhist monasteries during the Song dynasty under the reign of Emperor Taizu , who ordered the mass printing of the Buddhist Tripiṭaka scriptures. An illustration of a revolving bookcase is depicted in Li Jie's architectural treatise

782-557: Is essential; the bay system is not only handsome but utilizes the space to great advantage. The library of the City of London at the Guildhall is a peculiarly effective example of the bay arrangement. For libraries where space is extremely tight there is yet another system, usually called mobile aisle shelving . In such systems rows of bookcases are mounted on wheels and packed tightly together with only one or more aisles between them. It

828-409: Is no documentation that Thomas Jefferson actually designed them himself, but the amount of detail that went into their construction suggests that they were his idea. There are no surviving original book boxes, but officials at Monticello were able to recreate six of these bookcases in 1959. This was achieved through experts compiling all written evidence of the book boxes as well as taking measurements of

874-416: Is possible then to visit only two bookcase sides at a time, all the others being pressed close together. A gearing mechanism allows users to move the bookcases and open the aisle in the desired location. Because of the danger of tripping on the floor-mounted rails or being crushed between bookcases, these systems may have electronic sensors and/or recessed track, or may be reserved for closed stacks where access

920-450: Is restricted. A barrister requires the use of many law books and would formerly travel on circuit with a judge's court. A specialised form of portable bookcase was developed to meet their needs. It consists of several separate shelf units that may be stacked together to form a cabinet. An additional plinth and hood complete the piece. When moving chambers, each shelf is carried separately without needing to remove its contents, and becomes

966-484: The Yingzao Fashi . Private libraries appeared during the late Roman republic: Seneca inveighed against libraries fitted out for show by illiterate owners who scarcely read their titles in the course of a lifetime, but displayed the scrolls in bookcases ( armaria ) of citrus wood inlaid with ivory that ran right to the ceiling: "by now, like bathrooms and hot water, a library is got up as standard equipment for

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1012-486: The Fitzwilliam Library at Cambridge . There are three common ways of arranging stationary bookcases: flat against the wall; in stacks or ranges parallel to each other with merely enough space between to allow for the passage of a librarian; or in bays or alcoves, where cases jut out into the room at right angles to the wall-cases. The stack system is suitable only for public libraries where economy of space

1058-467: The Renaissance and later eras had relatively slimmer structures, and more and more drawers were added as woodworking became more precise and cabinet-making became a distinct trade. It is often possible to find out if a table or other piece of furniture of those times was designed to be used as a desk, by looking for a drawer with three small separations (one each for the ink pot, the blotter and

1104-486: The modesty panel at the back of the desk, such as outlet strips and cable management , in an attempt to clear the desktop of electrical clutter. Through the "tech boom" of the 1990s, office worker numbers increased along with the cost of office space rent. The cubicle desk became widely accepted in North America as an economical way of squeezing more desk workers into the same space, without further shrinking

1150-504: The rolltop desk which was a mass-produced, slatted variant of the classical cylinder desk . It provided a relatively fast and cheap way to lock up the ever increasing flow of paperwork without having to file everything by the end of the day. Paper documents became voluminous enough to be stored separately in filing cabinets . Correspondence and other documents were now too numerous to get enough attention to be rolled up or folded again, then summarized and tagged before being pigeonholed in

1196-406: The 20th with the introduction of smaller and less expensive electrical presses and efficient carbon paper coupled with the general acceptance of the typewriter . Steel desks were introduced to take heavier loads of paper and withstand the pounding meted out on the typewriters. This also gave rise to the " typewriter desk ", a platform, sometimes on wheels and with expandable surface via flaps, that

1242-756: The Barrister's bookcase is Thomas Jefferson 's book boxes. When the British burned down the capitol in 1814, Congress went into negotiations with Thomas Jefferson to purchase his personal library of about 6,700 books. The book collection would be the foundation of the Library of Congress , and it had its own specially designed shelves designed to help transport the books with ease from Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello. The book boxes or ("book presses" as they are sometimes called) were made of pine with backs and shelves, but no fronts. They were designed to be three-tiered, stacked on top of each other. When fully assembled,

1288-462: The boxes stood about 9 feet high. Each shelf had a different depth, however, ranging from 13 inches to 5.75 inches deep. The shelves had about ¾ inch on the front where boards could be nailed on for transportation. Scrap paper was used to stuff between the books as a way of protecting them during their journey. When it was time to transport the books, the individual shelves could be removed then reassembled once they made it to their final location. There

1334-410: The doors were removed, 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

1380-491: The dream of the " paperless office ", in which all information would only appear on computer monitors . However, the ease of printing personal documents and the lack of comfort with reading text on computer monitors led to a great deal of document printing. The need for paperwork space vied with the increased desk space taken up by computer monitors, computers, printers, scanners, and other peripherals. The need for more space led some desk companies to attach some accessory items to

1426-671: The economy of space it provided. Thirty-two volumes of the American Cyclopedia could be stored in a compact space, and readily available for perusal at the touch of a finger. Danner's bookcase appeared in the 1894 Montgomery Ward catalog. In 1878 he exhibited his bookcases at the Paris International Exhibition and won a gold medal. The John Danner Manufacturing Company was known for honorable workmanship and affordability. The woods were oak, black walnut, western ash, and Philippine mahogany. Viewed as

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1472-526: The end of the first phase of the Industrial Revolution . This allowed an increase in the number of the white-collar workers . As these office workers grew in number, desks were mass-produced for them in large quantities, using newer, steam-driven woodworking machinery. This was the first sharp division in desk manufacturing. From then on, limited quantities of finely crafted desks have been continued to be constructed by master cabinetmakers for

1518-418: The fore-edge instead of on the spine. Titles were also commonly written onto the fore-edge. It was not until the invention of printing had greatly reduced the cost of books, thus allowing many more people access to owning books, that it became the practice to write the title on the spine and shelve books with the spine outwards. (This was possible because the books were now in the form of a codex rather than

1564-446: The form of a table , although usually only one side of a desk is suitable to sit at (there are some exceptions, such as a partners desk ) Some desks do not have the form of a table, for instance, an armoire desk is a desk built within a large wardrobe-like cabinet , and a portable desk is light enough to be placed on a person's lap. Since many people lean on a desk while using it, a desk must be sturdy. In most cases, people sit at

1610-417: The homes and offices of the rich, while the vast majority of desks were assembled rapidly by unskilled labor from components turned out in batches by machine tools . Thus, age alone does not guarantee that an antique desk is a masterpiece, since this split in quality took place more than a hundred years ago. More paper and correspondence drove the need for more complex desks and more specialized desks, such as

1656-464: The idea of bookcase is represented by Bibliotheca and Bibliothēkē ( Greek : βιβλιοθήκη ), derivatives of which mean library in many modern languages. A bookcase is also known as a bookshelf , bookstand , cupboard and bookrack . In a library, large bookshelves are called "stacks." Revolving bookcases, known as zhuanlunzang ( Chinese : 轉輪藏 ; pinyin : zhuàn lún zàng ), have been documented in imperial China , and its invention

1702-402: The invention of the movable type printing press in the 15th century, any reader was potentially a writer or publisher or both, since any book or other document had to be copied by hand. The desks were designed with slots and hooks for bookmarks and for writing implements. Since manuscript volumes were sometimes large and heavy, desks of the period usually had massive structures. Desks of

1748-586: The paper itself was moved more and more directly to filing cabinets or sent to specialized records management centers , or transformed into microfilm , or both. Modular desks seating several co-workers close by became common. Even executive or management desks became mass-produced, built of cheap plywood or fiberboard covered with wood finish, as the number of people managing the white collar workers became even greater. A student desk can be any desk form meant for use by an enrollee in elementary, secondary or postsecondary education. Anna Breadin designed and patented

1794-414: The powder tray) and storage for pens . The basic desk forms were developed mostly in the 17th and 18th centuries. The modern ergonomic desk is a refinement of the mechanically complex drawing table or drafting table from the end of the 18th century. Refinements to the first desk forms were considerable through the 19th century, as steam-driven machinery made cheap wood-pulp paper possible towards

1840-706: The remaining volumes from the Jefferson Library at the Library of Congress. Desk A desk or bureau is a piece of furniture with a flat table -style work surface used in a school, office , home or the like for academic, professional or domestic activities such as reading , writing , or using equipment such as a computer . Desks often have one or more drawers , compartments, or pigeonholes to store items such as office supplies and papers. Desks are usually made of wood or metal, although materials such as glass are sometimes seen. Some desks have

1886-466: The same period were also highly successful with small ornamental cases. Mahogany , rosewood satinwood and even choicer exotic timbers were used; they were often inlaid with marquetry and mounted with chased and gilded bronze. Dwarf bookcases were frequently finished with a slab of choice marble at the top. In 1876, John Danner of Canton, Ohio , invented a revolving bookcase with a patented "pivot and post" design. The ingenuity of his work resided in

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1932-579: The shelves to ensure that the ends of the doors move in parallel without skewing and jamming. Many of this style, exported worldwide, were made by the Skandia Furniture Co. of Rockford, Illinois around the beginning of the 20th century. This style of bookcase was either made in the Dickensian period, or harkens back to the style of such times, so they are most commonly glazed with a leaded light and small panes of glass. Each shelf of

1978-446: The size of displays often increased to accommodate multiple on-screen windows, to display more and more information simultaneously. The lighter weight and slimmer profile of the new displays allowed them to be mounted on flexible arms, so they could be swung into view or out of the way, and adjusted frequently as needed. Satinwood Satinwood may refer to: Originally: More generally, various other woods that can be polished to

2024-414: The size of their cramped working surfaces. The cubicle walls have become a new place for workers to affix papers and other items once left on the horizontal desktop surface. Even computer monitor bezels themselves were used to attach reminder notes and business cards . Early in the 2000s, private office workers found that their side and back computer-placing furniture made it hard to show the contents of

2070-402: The two pedestals and about two-thirds of the desk surface. Such desks are sometimes called "left-pedestal desks" and "right-pedestal desks", depending on the position of the single pedestal. These desks are not as tall as normal adult desks. In some cases, the desk is connected from the seat to the table. The desks are usually mass-produced in steel or wood and sold on the consumer market. There

2116-502: Was built to a specific height to make typing easier and more comfortable than when using a standard or traditional desk. The L-shaped desk also became popular, with the "leg" being used as an annex for the typewriter. Another big expansion occurred after the Second World War with the spread of photocopying . Paperwork further increased the number of desk workers, whose work surfaces diminished in size as office rents rose, and

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