Dark Wood Bookcases

How dark is dark wood?
In the right setting dark wood furniture, especially dark wood bookcases, can lend an air of prestige to a library or study.  But what exactly is dark wood furniture?  Some regard dark wood as anything darker than the colour of white coffee, while to others it has to be almost black in colour.  Certainly the earliest examples of dark wood furniture came about almost by accident, because at one time virtually all wooden furniture would have been light coloured.  The oak furniture from the Medieval Period that can be found on display in museums appears dark or very dark in colour but almost all of it would have been quite light in colour when it was first made because this is the natural colour of oak.  

How time changes wooden furniture
The only sort of finish likely to have been available to protect early furniture from the damp or dirt would have been a coating of wax ‘polish.’  This might have been beeswax similar to that still in use today, or tallow made from animal fats.  In either case it would not, by itself, have significantly darkened the colour of the wood.  A practical demonstration of this can be staged by taking a piece of freshly seasoned oak wood and applying a coat, or even several coats, of wax.  There will be no appreciable darkening in the colour of the wood.

The biggest factor affecting the colour of this early or medieval furniture would have been the passage of time.  Over the course of many years, wood will naturally mellow and darken in colour due to the effects of the environment.  Add to this the centuries of dirt, smoke and soot and it is easy to understand how this would have resulted in the creation of dark wood furniture.  Of course these effects, so alluringly described by antique dealers as patination, can actually be quite attractive and so the desire arose to try and reproduce this look, even resulting in dark wood bookcases – which would originally have been extremely high-tech accessories in Tudor England.  

Dark wood furniture became particularly popular during Victorian times due to a revival of interest in the history of the middle ages, known as the Gothic revival.  Victorian cabinet makers responded by manufacturing furniture from the same materials – mainly oak – and treating the completed furniture with a stain prior to varnishing, lacquering or waxing.  But dark furniture was not all about ‘patinated’ oak however.  Since the 18th Century, furniture made with, or veneered with, mahogany had proved extremely popular.  Today some 250 years later, the attractive mid to deep red-brown colouring of this tropical hardwood means it remains as popular as ever.

These two influences:  the ‘discovery’ of mahogany for furniture making by Britain during the Georgian period and then the Gothic Revival of the Victorian period, are chiefly responsible for the establishment of dark wood furniture as a distinct type or style.   

Dark wood bookcases fall from favour
After six years of war from 1939 to 1945, people had grown tired of dark drab colours, dark furniture such as dark wood bookcases and subdued colour schemes – there’s only so much camouflage colouring people can tolerate!  Consequently when rationing ended in the early 1950s there was a surge of designs that used light and colour.  So pronounced was this reaction that the 1960s are remembered for using the very brightest of colours.  But this wasn't the end for dark wood bookcases however, as improved design and lighting in homes allowed a revival.

Did you know? An interesting fact about bookcases
The development of the printing press in the 1400s was the European internet revolution of its time.  It facilitated the widespread dissemination of knowledge and ideas and, for furniture makers, led to the development of the bookcase as it is known today.  Earlier, hand-produced, books were usually kept in closed cabinets.