ANTIQUE OAK, WALNUT AND MAHOGANY SECRETAIRES
The term secretaire is a kind of catch-all word for antique writing furniture other than out-and-out bureaux, davenports, bonheurs-du-jour, pedestal desks and other specific items. It is used for fall-front walnut pieces, often described in their original papers as scrutoires (or escritoires) and for later pieces of a writing nature.
A [...]

DESKS: BONHEURS DU OURS AN CHEVERETS
About 1770-1915
Lion’s mask handles on 19thC pedestal desk.
A satinwood bonheur du jour with simple inlaid decoration.
Handles: Generally very simple brass swan-neck in 18thC, turned wooden knobs in 19th, joined by a variety of metal ring, bail or drop handles around 1870, and horizontal wooden pulls around 1900.
Generally skeleton escutcheons; sometimes [...]

DESKS: PEDESTAL
About 1750 onwards
Mahogany pedestal desk, early-19th Century.
Asubstantial piece of writing furniture deriving from the type of pedestal ‘library’ or ‘writing-table’ made and illustrated by Thomas Chippendale and other high quality London-based cabinet makers in the mid-18thC. Subsequently made in a wide range of sizes, the largest being the double. sided partners’ desk, the smallest [...]

Antique English Pedestal Desks
mahogany library or writing table - mahogany pedestal desk - kidney-shaped writing table or desk - burr yew pedestal desk on paw feet - nineteenth century mahogany pedestal desk - kidney-shaped desk of Sheraton design
Pedestal desks for study, library and office use do not really stem from the same origin as the [...]

Antique English Georgian Walnut and Mahogany Pedestal Desks.
Original pedestal desks - George III mahogany desk - George III provincial kneehole pedestal desk - Victorian oak desk with mahogany veneer - 18th Century walnut desk
The pedestal desk was not made until c.1765 when it can be seen in its grandest form  very large and ornate, and [...]