One would naturally suppose that the writing-desk is as old as the art
of writing. So far as this country is concerned, the writing-desk of a
sort was known in very early times. In the art library of the Victoria
and Albert Museum are illuminated MSS. of about 1440-1450 showing
scribes working at sloping desks of simple construction. Coming to
Elizabethan and early Jacobean times, we find desks of small dimensions
mounted on table-stands, but it is fairly certain that the ordinary
tables of the house were more often used for writing purposes. The
composite article--secretaire, escritoire, or bureau (interchangeable
terms)--for writing and storage of writing materials is the product of
the end of the seventeenth century. The connection between the writer or
secretary (_secretus_, early Latin; _secretarius_, late Latin) and his
desk, the secretaire, is obvious. Escritoire is but another form of the
word; sometimes scrutoire or scruetoire in corrupt English. Bureau in
the French was originally a russet cloth which covered the desk (from
the Latin _burrus_, red), but came to mean the desk itself, and also the
office in which the business was transacted.
We look back upon the Elizabethan times as the Renaissance period of
English literature, but even then the lettered were in the minority. By
the end of the seventeenth century literature had spread to the middle
classes, and we find the Press pouring out countless ponderous volumes
on every imaginable subject. It is the age of the diarists, conspicuous
amongst whom were Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, whose gossipy daily
journals bring us so intimately in touch with the political and social
life of the times. It is the age of the pamphleteers and essayists whose
effusions led up to the semi-satirical periodicals of the early
eighteenth century--chief amongst them being the _Spectator_, started by
Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in 1710.
This vast outpouring of literature called for more commodious
writing-desks, and the escritoire or bureau is the natural result. Like
the other furniture of the period, the desks were solid and dignified.
In the main they were severe in outline, but generally reflected the
prevailing architecture of the period, which was derived from the
Italian Renaissance. We find the desks often surmounted by finely
moulded, boldly carved cornices and broken pediments. As the Dutch
influence grew we find the lower portions, containing commodious long
drawers, with rounded or _bombé_ fronts.
The principal wood used was walnut, sometimes solid and sometimes
veneered on oak and pine. We also find the same schemes in marquetry
work, as in the chests of drawers, cabinets, and clock-cases showing
Continental influences.
Fig. 60 represents a William and Mary period bureau of simple outline
surmounted by a panelled cupboard with bookshelves. The raised panels
are of the late Jacobean type. It is built of solid walnut, oak and
limewood. Behind the visible stationery cases are concealed a number of
secret recesses; the two pillars flanking the small central cupboard are
the fronts of two narrow upright sliding receptacles; on removing these,
springs are released which secure inner secret drawers. This bureau,
valued at sixteen guineas, is in the possession of Mr. J. H. Springett,
of Rochester.
Fig. 61, dating from early eighteenth century, is a bureau with four
serpentine drawers below decorated with sprigs of flowers. It stands on
depressed ball feet much like "China oranges." The knees set at an angle
denote the Dutch influence, if it were not actually made in Holland.
The piece, standing 43 in. high and 40 in. wide, is valued at eighteen
guineas.
Fig. 62, a walnut-wood small bureau with sloping lid and knee-hole
recess, belongs to Queen Anne's reign. Beneath the lid are numerous
useful small drawers and stationery cases. It bears the charming
original brass drop handles in form of flattened flower-buds. This type
was very popular all through the eighteenth century. In general outline
it is of the pattern adopted by modern makers of small bureaux.
Fig. 63 represents a charming type of Queen Anne period pedestal
writing-table with knee-hole recess. It is a beautiful example of
figured walnut veneered on oak; all the drawers are oak-lined. It was
recently purchased in London for ten pounds. The knee-hole writing
table--of which the present is an example--is a type of Queen Anne
furniture of the greatest utility. It has many drawers as well as a
cupboard underneath, and, for its size, may be said to represent the
maximum of usefulness. Whilst seated at it you may be said to have the
whole of its resources to your hand, which can scarcely be said of the
bureau, as, when the writing-flap falls, it is difficult to get to the
drawers beneath. The Queen Anne knee-hole table is becoming rarer, and
the writers would certainly recommend its purchase should opportunity
arise. Its pleasing lines and frequently beautiful arrangement of
veneers make it a desirable addition to almost any room. Its dimensions
are slender, usually measuring at the top about 30 by 21 ins.
Fig. 64 represents a still simpler form of Queen Anne writing-table on
solid walnut cabriole legs. The drawer fronts and top are veneered and
inlaid with simple bands. This specimen has a value of about £5. The
photograph was supplied by Mr. Springett, of Rochester. This form of
table and the one previously illustrated are sometimes described as
dressing-tables. They were probably used for both purposes, and they
certainly lend themselves to either use.
One of the most useful forms of the escritoire, or bureau, is of the
type given in Figs. 65 and 66. It was bought recently in Mid-Somerset at
a cost of thirty pounds. This type is made in two sections, sometimes
with bracketed feet and sometimes with ball feet. The bureau under
consideration is of an average size, being 5 ft. 3 in. high, 3 ft. 7 in.
wide, and 19 in. deep. It is of rectangular form and the falling front,
which serves as a writing-table, is supported by jointed steel rods. The
opened front discloses an assemblage of drawers and pigeon-holes. The
pigeon-holes at the top pull out in four sections, and behind are
hidden numerous small drawers. Other secret drawers are so ingeniously
contrived that they can only be discovered on pulling out the visible
drawers and the dividing pieces on which the drawers run. The middle
member of the cornice details forms the front of a shallow drawer
running the whole length and depth of the bureau top. This bureau, which
contains in all about thirty drawers and recesses, is built of red deal
overlaid with thick veneers of walnut and fine knotted pollard oak of
dark hue, with cross-banded edges of walnut in various shades. The
visible drawers are of oak throughout, whilst the hidden ones are
oak-bodied with red deal fronts to match the lining of the main
structure--thus ingeniously disguising their presence.
We have seen specimens of the same type entirely veneered with walnut
and others inlaid with marquetry. These bureaux, dating from about 1690
well into Queen Anne's reign, have selling values of from £25 to £35.
There must be an added sentimental pleasure in sitting at an escritoire
which was possibly the treasured possession of a pamphleteer or diarist
of the last years of the rebellion: an æsthetic joy in rummaging amongst
the secret drawers which contained the journals in cypher of the
wire-pullers of the new monarchy.