THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



if), LOWER BERKELEY STREET. 



comfortable if the 



lower stage of the 



bookcase is taken up 



by cupboards, which 



are always useful for 



the storage of loose 



portfolios of drawings, 



unbound proceedings 



of learned societies, 



albums of photographs, 



a n d other s t r a y 



elements of a library 



which look untidy if 



set on open shelves. 



This arrangement has 



been followed in the 



case of some shelves 



designed b y M r . 



Lutyens for Viscount 



Haldane and shown 



in Fig. 58. Each of 



the lower cupboards 



has a door of a single 



panel hinged at the 



bottom and falling 



towards the floor. 



When it comes 



to the spacing of the 



shelves themselves, the first and invariable rule should be to make the shelves adjustable. There are 



various devices obtainable to secure this, of which perhaps the simplest and cheapest is known as 



Tonks bookcase strip, furnished with little metal studs, adjustable at intervals of about an inch, 



on which the shelves rest. Another method is to groove the sides of the framing, which gives an equally 



elastic adjustment. With regard to the depth of the shelves from back to front, eight inches will 



accommodate practically all books below the size of quarto ; but here, again, it is unwise to cut 



down the width of the 

 shelves unduly. 



The general ques^ 

 tion of glazed doors 

 or no glazed doors 

 has already arisen in 

 connection with the 

 mirrored doors of the 

 Devonshire House 

 bookcase. It will 

 always p r o v i cl e 

 differences of opinion. 

 In favour of them, 

 there is the protection 

 which t h e y afford 

 against dust. Against 

 them is the bother of 

 opening them c o n - 

 tinually, the fact that 

 books grow musty in 

 them if the library is 

 rarely used, and last, 

 but not least, is 

 their cost. Moreover, 

 there is the sentimental 

 feeling that the glass 



73. DESIGNED BY SIR ROBERT LORIMER. Seems to shut One 





