A library lamp is a lamp designed to provide good reading light in a library, study or reading room. The term covers several forms, including table lamps with shaded oil or electric burners, hanging lamps suspended over library tables, adjustable reading lamps on stands, and desk lamps with angled shades directing light onto the page.
In the nineteenth century, improved oil lamps transformed reading after dark, and libraries in country houses and clubs were furnished with brass and bronze table lamps fitted with glass chimneys and opaline, green or white glass shades. Hanging library lamps, sometimes on rise-and-fall fittings with counterweights, were popular in Victorian homes, particularly in America. With the arrival of electricity, adjustable desk lamps and the green-shaded banker's lamp became familiar library fixtures, along with telescopic standard lamps that could be raised beside a reading chair. Collectors look for quality of brasswork, original shades, sound mechanisms and evidence of a careful, safe electrical conversion. Matching original shades in good condition add considerably to value, as glass shades are easily broken and are often replaced. A good library lamp provides both practical, focused light and a sense of scholarly calm.
