Saltram's 'Newly invented Library Steps' - 1777
Robert Campbell (fl.1754 - 1793)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1777
Materials
Mahogany, beech, deal, brass
Measurements
72.0 x 77.0 x 54.0 cm (closed); 72.0 x 94.0 x 54.0 cm (open)
Place of origin
Seven Dials
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 871302
Summary
A mahogany metamorphic Pembroke table and library steps, English, supplied to Saltram in 1777 by Robert Campbell (fl. 1754-93), of Seven Dials, London. The top with a pair of drop-leaves and above a frieze drawer. The top rising on hinges to reveal a folding set of steps of three treads; the top fitted with a handle. On four square-section legs with castors.The top with a pair of drop-leaves and above a frieze drawer. The top rising on hinges to reveal a folding set of steps of three treads; the top fitted with a handle. On four square-section legs with castors.
Full description
John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon (1734/5-88) purchased these steps from Robert Campbell on 14 June 1777 for £6 10s 6d. This means that they were probably purchased for Saltram when the Library was situated in what is now the Dining Room, before the room was remodelled by Robert Adam in 1780. They bear a trade label reading 'Campbell's Newly invented Library Steps inclos'd in all kinds of Tables, Stools, and Chairs, with hand Rails, and Desk, or Maps, to suit Libraries, of any height, which for use, ease, elegance & safety, exceed any thing of the kind. Made and sold only by Rob:t Campbell, Cabinet Maker, & Upholsterer at the King's Arms, Queen Street, 7 Dials, London'. Robert Campbell was a pioneer of dual-use furniture in Britain, his library steps being patented in 1774. Campbell's contemporary, the furniture designer Thomas Sheraton, considered these steps so important and revolutionary that he illustrated it is his 1793 publication, 'The cabinet-maker and upholsterer's drawing-book'. Campbell's first set was said to have been made for George III and, before the end of his career, he was repeatedly employed by the crown, supplying the King's throne and canopy in the King's Audience Chamber at Windsor Castle, amongst other pieces of furniture and mirrors. Saltram is singular for its collection of ingenious dual-use library furniture, including another set of library steps-cum-chair in the manner of Morgan & Sanders (fl. 1801-20).
Provenance
Supplied by Robert Campbell to John Parker (1734/5 - 1788), 1st Baron Boringdon in 1777. Thence by descent to Edmund Robert Parker (1877 - 1951), 4th Earl of Morley and accepted by HM Treasury from his Executors as that part of the contents to be acquired using funds from the National Land Fund to defray the Estate Duty otherwise payable and transferred to the National Trust in 1957. .
Credit line
(Megan Wheeler, 2025)
Makers and roles
Robert Campbell (fl.1754 - 1793), cabinetmaker