Working drawings for the bookcases, May 1833 (5)

Explore Collections

You are here: CollectionsOnline / Working drawings for the bookcases, May 1833 (5)

Browse

Sir John Soane office drawings: the drawings of Sir John Soane and the office of Sir John Soane
- Office of Works
  - London: New State Paper Office, Duke Street, Westminster, 1829-34 (207)

Use of images and copyright
Enlarge this Image

Print this image in A4 view

Reference number

SM (159) 82/2/42 (160) 82/2/43 (161) 82/2/44 (162) 82/2/45 (163) 82/2/39

Purpose

Working drawings for the bookcases, May 1833 (5)

Aspect

159 Part plan of the basement 160 Part plan of the ground floor 161 Part plan of the first floor and details of Cornice B and Standard A A A &^c; (verso) rough pencil plan of an unidentified room 162 Elevation, plans, sections and details of the bookcases; (verso) details of bookcases 163 Elevation of Skeleton Doors / for Library, Section through skeleton doors and details of Parts of the Doors

Scale

(159) bar scale of 7/20 inch to 1 foot (160) to a scale of 7/20 inch to 1 foot (161) bar scale of 7/20 inch to 1 foot and details full size (162, 163) bar scales of 1/4 inch to 1 foot and details full size

Inscribed

159 labelled: N^o 1, New State Paper Office, A, This Case to range in height / with the others but the / height of the lower doors / & the number of shelves / will be seen by referring / to the Drawing N^o 1 (A), B and some dimensions given 160 labelled: N^o 2, New State Paper Office, (pencil) A (twice), B (twice), C (twice), D (twice), E (twice), F (3 times), G (4 times), N^o 1, N^o 2, N^o 3, Omit in / Estimate (twice), (See Drawing / N^o 4) and dimensions of bookcases given 161 labelled: N^o 3, New State Paper Office, equal (twice), divided equally (twice), eq^l division (3 times), The Standards, Skirting, Shelves, Doors &^c generally / the same thicknesses as those below, A (twice), B (twice), Skeleton Doors as those below, Door, (pencil) N^o 1, (pencil) N^o 2, (pencil) N^o 3, Shelf, Rebate for high doors, Rebate for low doors and dimensions of bookcases given; (verso, pencil) dimensions given 162 labelled: N^o 4, New State Paper Office, Mem. The Cases to stand detached from the Wall / half an inch every instance, A, B, C, Section of Press A / Drawing N^o 1, Section of parts of Book-Case, Wainscot (3 times), Deal (3 times), Deal Wro^t, Bearer, A, B, C, For depths / See Plans, Two Estimates will be required the one supposing the Cases made / entirely of Deal the other supposing the Ends, Cornice & Doors / of Wainscot and the Standards &c edged with Wainscot as shewn above and some dimensions given; (verso) Standard / Full Size, Rebate for / Door, Shelf, Back 163 as above, labelled: New State Paper Office, (N^o 5), A (5 times), B (5 times), C (3 times), (Doors to Cases A & B / see Drawing N^o 1) and some dimensions given

Signed and dated

May 1833
(159-161) L I Fields / May 1833 (162) Lincolns Inn Fields / 20^th May 1833 (163) LIF / May 20^th 1833

Medium and dimensions

(159, 160) Pen, pink and yellow washes, pricked for transfer on wove paper (526 x 686, 518 x 688) (161) pen, pink, yellow, burnt Sienna and sepia washes, pricked for transfer on wove paper (516 x 650) (162) pen, pink, yellow, grey, burnt Sienna and sepia washes, pricked for transfer on wove paper with modern repair (532 x 732) (163) pen, sepia and burtn Sienna washes, pricked for transfer on thin wove paper (515 x 355)

Hand

(159-163) George Bailey (1792-1860, pupil then assistant 1806-37, curator 1837-60)

Watermark

(159, 160, 162) Smith & Allnutt 1830

Notes

Drawings 159-161 show the positions of the bookcases in the Deputy Keeper's apartments in the basement and the first floor and gallery levels of the library. The depth of the bookcases ranges from 12¼ inches to 1 foot 5¼ inches with the majority of those in the library being 1 foot 1¼ inches deep. According to the detail on drawing 161, the height of the bookcases on the gallery is 8 feet 9 inches. Drawing 162 shows a method for supporting the shelves, the height of which can be adjusted, and bears a note showing that it had not been decided whether the bookcases should be made entirely of deal or of deal and wainscot. The 'skeleton doors' (drawing 163) shown on the gallery of the library on drawing 161 are 2 feet 10 inches and 7 feet 1¾ inches in height. The doors to cases 'A' and 'B' (drawing 159) are 4 feet and 5 feet 11¾ inches respectively.

Level

Drawing

Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation

If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk

Sir John Soane's collection includes some 30,000 architectural, design and topographical drawings which is a very important resource for scholars worldwide. His was the first architect’s collection to attempt to preserve the best in design for the architectural profession in the future, and it did so by assembling as exemplars surviving drawings by great Renaissance masters and by the leading architects in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries and his near contemporaries such as Sir William Chambers, Robert Adam and George Dance the Younger. These drawings sit side by side with 9,000 drawings in Soane’s own hand or those of the pupils in his office, covering his early work as a student, his time in Italy and the drawings produced in the course of his architectural practice from 1780 until the 1830s.

Browse (via the vertical menu to the left) and search results for Drawings include a mixture of Concise catalogue records – drawn from an outline list of the collection – and fuller records where drawings have been catalogued in more detail (an ongoing process).