The Care of Books

by John Willis Clark

Fig. 141. Circular book-desk. From a MS. of Fais et Gestes du Roi Alexandre, in the British Museum.

Fig. 140. S. Jerome writing. From an oil painting by Benedetto Bonfigli, in the Church of S. Peter at Perugia.

I now return to the wheel-desk, of which I have already figured one specimen ([fig. 135]). A piece of furniture consisting of one or more tables which could be raised or depressed by means of a central screw, was very generally used by scholars in the Middle Ages. I shall present a few of the most common forms.

Fig. 142. S. Luke writing his Gospel. From the Dunois Horæ, a MS. in the possession of H. Y. Thompson, Esq.