occupied by windows. If the width of the interval
be two feet six, about sixteen inches of this
may be given to shallow cases placed against
the wall.

Economy of space is in my view best
attained by fixed shelves. This dictum I will
now endeavor to make good. If the shelves
are movable, each shelf imposes a dead
weight on the structure of the bookcase,
without doing anything to support it. Hence
it must be built with wood of considerable
mass, and the more considerable the mass
of wood the greater are both the space
occupied and the ornament needed. When the
shelf is fixed, it contributes as a fastening to
hold the parts of the bookcase together; and
a very long experience enables me to say
that shelves of from half- to three-quarters of
an inch worked fast into uprights of from
three-quarters to a full inch will amply suffice
for all sizes of books except large and heavy
folios, which would probably require a small,
and only a small, addition of thickness.

I have recommended that as a rule the
shelves be fixed, and have given reasons for
the adoption of such a rule. I do not know
whether it will receive the sanction of
authorities. And I make two admissions. First,