IT is in the nature of display cabinets not to stand out. By definition they are unobtrusive vehicles intended to take a back seat to their contents.
Nonetheless some visitors to the Golden Square premises of veteran antiquarian booksellers Bernard Quaritch may remember the pair of distinctive Edwardian cases that stood on the ground floor.
The two cabinets, which measure 8ft 10in x 6ft 1in (2.71m x 1.86m), are thought to have been originally commissioned as one large bookcase for the company’s Grafton Street rooms when then firm moved there in 1907.
They made the journey to Golden Square, but Quaritch has recently decamped to South Audley Street and this time they did not bring the bookcases. Instead, they appeared in Bonhams’ Gentleman’s Library sale on January 20.
The estimate was £2000-3000, but evidently there was more than one potential buyer with room to accommodate them, as the pair sold for £22,000 (plus 20 per cent).
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