This bookcase is a copy of Voysey's personal one, designed for his wife c1900 for The Orchard, shown below. It has the usual Voysey trademarks, simple design, light oak, nice design touches - an elegant design that is practical. Voysey at this time was specifying natural oak finish for most of his furniture, but actually this bookcase was specified to be 'slightly oiled only'. It is quite a spartan piece of furniture, with only the wider lower section & cornice for detailing. Where the bookcase sides are wider near the bottom (for larger books) they have a nice quadrant moulding shape, showing Pugin's on going Gothic influence in his work. Voysey left a few designs for bookcases we could look at for you.

Oak finishes;

The bookcase can be left natural, as Voysey preferred, as the LH sample above. Or, it could be 'slightly oiled' as Voysey specified for this particular bookcase (or lacquered / waxed would give a similar look & colour), as the middle sample above. Or if you have antique furniture in the room & want it to blend in, we can give it a darker finish, as above right. The bookcase is made to order. We don't give out sizes until we have agreed a spec. with a customer. As this is made bespoke we could change the sizes to suit, or make it a double bay wide, etc..

Finish variations;

Shown above are a few different finishes you could consider. Voysey was not averse to painted furniture, & left a couple of designs for painted bookcases. The obvious colours to consider are either white or one of a couple of Voysey greens. Or darker finished oak.

Double bay bookcases - size variations;

The above 3 designs show a 2 bay version of this bookcase, and how we can change the proportions to whatever you require. The top one is essentially just 2 of the single bookcases joined together. The bottom 2 designs show a narrower much taller version of the bookcase. The left one while cleaner looking visually is more likely to see the shelves sag over time if heavy books are placed on them. The one of the right, with the center vertical, provides much better support to the shelves. Access is always a consideration with larger bookcases, so bear this in mind.

We register our new designs as they are added to the website. While we don't claim any exclusivity to Voysey's original designs, our furniture using these designs is original and are our copyright. All rights reserved.