Bookcase

George Edmund Street (1824-1881), Designer

Manufacturer: Holland & Sons

1865

Oak, with incised and inlaid decoration, glass doors, a mirror in the top stage, and brass mounts.

Height: l03 inches (261.6cm) Depth (of lower stage): 29inches (73.7 cm); Width: 55 inches (39.7 cm.)

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The lower stage contains fifteen drawers, the upper shelves. On the upper edge of the lower right-hand door is stamped 'HOLLAND & SONS'. Date: 1865.

This bookcase was acquired in 1970 from Mr. Philip E. W. Street, grandson of the designer. In the Holland Records in the Victoria and Albert Museum) Day Book for 1865, R-Z, March, p. 109, is the entry '(An oak gothic) Bookcase 4' 2" long, 8' high, shelves in upper part enclosed by two doors with transparent glass panels, plates of silvered glass over, drawers in lower part enclosed by door, bronzed metal gothic handles �59-10'. The bookcase was altered in 1865, and further in 1866. Street's employment of the firm of Holland & Sons to make this bookcase probably resulted from the friendship of his first wife, Maraquita Proctor, whom he had married in 1852, with Jessie Mary Anne Holland, daughter of Mr. William Holland, of the firm. In 1876, after Maraquita's death in 1874, Street married Jessie Holland, who died two months later'. Street designed a number of other pieces for his own use, some of which were destroyed in 1942 in the 'Baedeker Raid' on Bath. Negatives

References

Simon Jervis. "Holland & Sons and the Furnishing of the Athenaeum." Furniture History 6 (1970): 48.

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Last modified 14 November 2004