Early 20th Century Edwardian Inlaid Mahogany Bookstand

This is an elegant Edwardian bookstand, circa 1900, made from mahogany with fan inlaid decoration and boxwood stringing. Perfect for keeping your books and magazines close to hand. The item is not CITES pursuant. Condition: In excellent condition having been beautifully repolished in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 94 x width 55 x depth 31 Dimensions in inches: Height 37.0 x width 21.7 x depth 12.2 Mahogany is probably one of the largest ‘families’ of hardwood, having many different varieties within its own species. Mahogany has been used for centuries in ship building, house building, furniture making etc and is the core structure of just about every 19th century vanity box, dressing case or jewellery box. It became more of a Victorian trend to dress mahogany with these decorative veneers, such as Rosewood, Kingwood, Burr Walnut and Coromandel, so that the actual mahogany was almost hidden from view. Mahogany itself is a rich reddish brown wood that can range from being plain in appearance to something that is so vibrant, figured and almost three dimensional in effect. Although mahogany was most often used in its solid form, it also provided some beautifully figured varieties of veneer like ‘Flame’ mahogany and ‘Fiddleback’ mahogany (named after its preferred use in the manufacture of fine musical instruments).