Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/1093

 GRECIAN AND MODERN VILLA FURNITURE. lOClQ 1958 Fig. 1959, to a scale of one inch to a foot, is a bookstand to be placed on a table. There is a drawer for letters or other papers, and at top a rack for holding cards ; and two handles, for removing the whole when necessary. Stands for books might be naade in a great variety of forms, and, to those who derive great part of their happi- ness from reading, bookstands are always welcome pieces of furniture. " One of the grandest detached bookstands I ever saw," says an American correspondent, " was placed in the centre of a square library, with a lofty ceiling, lighted from the roof. It was in the form of a pj-ramid ; the shelves rising above one another like the steps of a stair to the height of twelve feet ; and each step, though narrow, was yet sufficiently broad to admit any person to walk up and walk down in order to take out or put in books. mounted bv d '. ■ ■ L "■■■ ^ The whole was sur- statue of Jefferson, and at the angles was a light mahogany handrail to assist in walking up and down. The artificial light was from gas, placed outside the skylight, and within an outer glass case. Underneath the pj-ramid was a pedestal filled with steam-pipes, for heating the room. The four sides of the room were fitted up with bookshelves to the height of twelve feet, with a travelling step-ladder, similar to one which I saw, when in England, in one of the London club-houses." 2122. Piano-fortes. The forms of piano-fortes have been lately much 1962 improved, so that they now harmonise with the general forms of drawing- room furniture bet- ter than they ever did before. The first step in the road to this desirable end was made by the manufacturer Sto- dart, who invented the upright and