An Arts & Crafts Yorkshire School English Oak Bookcase by Mervin Duffield 2000. A classic Yorkshire School design and very well made.. Featuring:

• Solid English Oak

• Well figured quarter-sawn English Oak (quarter-sawing is a way of sawing oak to produce boards with superior strength which also reveals decorative 'medullary rays' in its grain.)

• Subtly adzed on the sides and top (the subtle surface rippling synonymous with Yorkshire School furniture)

• Two doors with leaded glazed panels

• Two adjustable shelves

• Traditional blind tenons secured with hand made pegs.

Approximate dimensions are:

• Overall Height 1140mm (3 feet 8 3/4 inches)

• Overall Width 990mm (3 feet 2 3/4 inches)

• Overall Depth 305mm (1 foot)

2000

Very good condition with snugly closing doors, tight joints, excellent rich colour and grain, original finish and free from woodworm. If you wish to have further specific photographs or talk to us for a more detailed condition report then please do not hesitate to contact us.

A Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson apprentice and craftsman, who continued making items by private commission from his own workshop at Husthwaite. Unlike make Yorkshire School craftsmen, he did not adopt a ‘critter’ to mak his work.

The most British of woods, that can produce really special results. English oak has been used for hundreds of years to construct everything from sea-going vessels to fine furniture. Although oak grows widely across Europe and North America, craftsmen continue to cherish English oak which grows more slowly than its foreign counterparts giving it strength, durability. Quarter sawn boards are very straight grained and have distinctive growth rings and medullary rays that give a very beautiful effect as well as being renowned for their superior stability and strength

The Yorkshire School of the Arts & Crafts movement started with Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson's  transformation from jobbing carpenter to master craftsmen. By the mid-1920s he had adopted his trademark mouse (now world renowned as a symbol of quality furniture) and had his own workshop busily employing several men. As the workshop grew and over the years many of the craftsmen have taken their skills and branched out and adopted a trademark of their own, a fox, a lizard, a fish, a rabbit to name but a few, and whilst some have closely stuck to the Mouseman designs others have taken the style and adapted it. Other craftsmen, unconnected to the Mouseman workshop, have also chosen the classic Yorkshire Oak style as their own. Typical Yorkshire school items are in English Oak, with traditional pegged joints and adzed surfaces