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My wife and I discovered this magnificent "Antique French Victorian Oak Bookcase" on Ebay posted by a store called "Designs and Styles" located in Phoenix, Az.

When we inquired about its history the store told us a custom piece like that (W 83''X H117''XD26'') sporting a carved letter ("A") in the top masthead, was usually a wedding gift back in the late 1890's.

We noticed that the carvings on the lower three doors depicted, the "arts" (an artist's palatte with brushes thru the thumb hole, an artist's "support" prop-stick with padded tip, a rolled canvas?, and a stringed lyre-above the world globe), architecture (the top of an Ionic column, a measurement caliper, a protractor-below the world globe, a ruler and something rolled), and geographic and navigation sciences (a world globe, telescope).

Which is a departure from the majority of carvings, i.e., birds, flowers, rabbits, bees, cherub faces, and gargoyles, we found on French Victorian furniture, leading us to the conclusion this bookcase must in someway have been made to be used to hold books covering such topics in a wealthy household or educational institution.

Is there anyone "out there" that may be able to share some information about: 1) the history of this bookcase, 2) where it was made, 3) by whom was it made, 4) what environment was it used in?