ADAM'S THE LIBRARY COLLECTION 29th April 2025

60 This type of bureau writing desk, designed for both seated and standing use, was supplied by Gillows of Lancaster. They were provided for accounting firms as well as for gentleman libraries. The alphabet-inlaid drawers and fall front, supported by quadrants, reflect a style popularized by Thomas Shearer’s The Cabinet Maker’s London Book of Prices (1788–1803). An early example was made by David Wright who was a journeyman, working in Gillows Lancaster, in August 1751 - now in the Victoria & Albert Museum. During the late 18th century, Gillows produced numerous variations of this desk form. A desk of this model, dated circa 1790 and with the impressed stamp: ‘GILLOWS LANCASTER’, is illus- trated in S. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, 2008, p.282, pl.296. A pattern for a very similar desk with a rising ratchet-supported top and ‘turn down’ front features in the firm’s 1798 Estimate Sketch Book (no. 1481) preserved in the Westminster City Archives. The present example closely relates to a design supplied to Mr. Dickinson in which was later modified by Gillows at the customer’s request. In a letter from Richard Gillow dated 1766, it was suggested that the desk’s appearance and structural strength would be improved by incorporating three drawers beneath the top, supported by rails, instead of the two drawers originally requested by Dickinson. While the letter also references the use of castors to allow fur- niture mobility within a room, Mr. Dickinson chose not to include them, resulting in a desk with an unfinished back, requiring placement against a wall. In contrast, this example lacks castors and has a fully finished back, though it retains the extra framed top, which could be raised for more comfortable standing use. A nearly identical desk was produced for Williams Hassell of Penrith in November 1774. A closely related desk to this lot sold in Bonhams, London 12 June 2013 for £18,750 including premium.