Your Bookcase Supersite: Custom Bookcases & More

Carmel Bookcases specializes in creating top quality bookcases, including custom bookshelves, built-in bookcases, oak book cases, cherry bookcase and more. Our custom book cases are

designed to last a lifetime. We offer the flexibility of bookcases in a variety of fine woods and finishes, such as oak, maple, cherry, walnut and more.

We offer a variety of custom built-in bookcases and freestanding bookcases. We can also offer you help with bookcase plans, as well as general information. While we cannot make every type of custom bookcase, our site at least strives to give you information about many different kinds

of custom bookcases, built-in bookcases and other bookshelves, together with details about bookcase building and finishing, so that you can make an informed choice. And our do-it-yourself built-in bookshelf program allows you to get the advantages of built-ins with less hassle.

Built-In Bookcases

We offer built-in bookcases that fit your space and are made to your design. Our built-in bookcases are identical to our freestanding custom bookcases, but sized to fit side-by-side in the space chosen by you.

You measure your space and tell us the dimensions (width to fill; height and depth); one of our staff designers will help you with the process. We manufacture custom bookcases and ship them to you. Learn more about our built-in bookcases.

Pricing

We encourage "window shopping," and we know that price is a critical factor in any person's shopping decision. So we make it easy for you: just visit our bookcase price page for an exact price for what you need.

Bookcase Plans

We know that bookcase plans are something that many people want. We also know that bookcase plans are good for people who can't necessarily afford custom bookcases.

We're proud to offer some help. Please go to the relevant parts of our site for reference help with bookcase plans.

Bookcase History

Bookcases were not originally needed, when books were rare. When books were written by hand and were not common, they were kept in small containers which the rich, who were the only ones who could afford books, carried about with them on their travels. These were the original custom bookcases. These books, originally, were handwritten in script, not printed.

As manuscript volumes accumulated in the religious houses or in manors of the wealthy, they were stored on shelves or in cupboards, and today's bookshelves are the direct descendants of those cupboards.

Eventually the cupboard doors were discarded, and the evolution continued. Even then, however, the books were not arranged in the modern fashion. Instead, they were either placed in piles upon their sides, or if stood upright, were set with their backs to the rear of the bookcase and their edges outwards. The band which closed the book was generally used for the inscription of the title, which was thus on the front edge, instead of the back edge.

It was not until the invention of printing made books available to everybody that book printers began to write the title on the back of the books and place the edges inwards. Early built-in bookcases and custom book cases were usually oak, although other woods were used for custom bookcases, such as maple, cherry and pine, and custom bookcases were even made of metal such as steel. Book cases were either stained appropriate colors, or frequently painted to be white custom bookcases.

Library bookcases are one of the most common applications. This includes custom bookshelves used both in home libraries and in public libraries. The great public libraries of the 20th century frequently used custom bookcases made of metal, as in the British Museum where the shelves are covered with cowhide, or made of steel, as in the Library of Congress.

Libraries with little space usually use mobile custom bookcases, or tower custom bookcases. Alternatively, they may use corner custom bookcases or built-in bookcases to ensure the most efficient use of space.

For mobile bookcases, several bookcases are mounted on wheels. Because of the heavy weight of the books, most of the systems are not used in homes. A home alternative is custom bookcases with ladders, which allows efficient use of high space that might otherwise not be accessible.

The history of custom bookcases and custom built-in bookcases is a fascinating and complex topic. We at Carmel Bookcases are proud to be the inheritors of a thousand years of history.

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Bookcase Design Types Antique Lawyer’s Arched Arts & Crafts Barrister’s Bed Billy Black Blueprint Boat Bookcase Cabinet Bookcase Ladder Bunk Bed Bookcase Headboard Canoe CD Children’s Corner Craftsman Custom DIY Door DVD Entertainment Centers Firehouse Fireplace Floor To Ceiling Folding Glass Door Glass Gothic Headboard Hidden Door Home Office Kid’s King Headboard Kit Ladder Lawyer’s Leaning Legal Library Limbert Low Mahogany Mission Modern Modular Narrow O'Sullivan Queen Headboard Revolving Rolling Secretary Sliding Solid Wood Stackable Steel Stickley Sullivan Tall Twin Headboard Unfinished White