Lot 34

The Mitchell Library, Sydney
James R. Lawson Pty Ltd, Sydney
Rustic Charm Antiques, Sydney
The Estate of the late Anthony Arnold Graham, acquired from the above 1985
Bonhams Sydney, Australian, European & Asian Decorative Arts including The Colonial Sale, 25 November 2013, lot 115
acquired from the above

The State Library of New South Wales had its origin in the Australian Subscription Library which opened its doors in 1827. Through the first half of the 19th century this establishment occupied various buildings in the growing town and by 1845 had built its own fine sandstone building on the corner of Macquarie and Bent Streets. As befitting a temple of learning the suitably classical structure had a broad cornice supported by Corinthian pilasters with an elegant Palladian window looking to the south. Though popular, it was not a commercial success and was continually in debt so in 1869 the New South Wales Government purchased the building and books and it became the Sydney Free Public Library. Photographs from this period show a tall four-story reading room with over 20,000 volumes in simple purpose-built shelves. A further wing along the Bent Street side was added in the 1880s by James Barnet, colonial architect. By the end of the 19th century the expanding collections of the now Public Library of New South Wales had outgrown this structure, and in 1898 the incredible Australiana collection of the David Scott Mitchell bequest which came with the condition that a new library was built to house it saw the start of what is now called the Mitchell Wing on Macquarie Street in 1906. The sandstone building that we see today was not completed until 1964, and the modern wing on Macquarie Street finished in 1988.

This grand breakfront library bookcase may have been supplied for the Bent Street wing of the Free Public Library and is typically of the high quality supplied to the government offices at the time. The broad cornice and the pilasters that flank the glass doors echo the architecture of the library building and provide a suitable frame for the learned volumes they house.

Ronan Sulich | Senior Adviser, Sydney