Nicely done, Martin. It gives one inspiration.

Wonderful! What is that object at top center right? It looks to me like wine corks.

Perfect. And the tops of the books don't get dusty!

I wondered if anyone would comment on the corks. Yes, it's a glass vase filled carefully with corks by my wife. Just an ornament, but quite an attractive one!

As you say, Sarah - and, more importantly, the light doesn't get to them either.

That's fantastic! I love both the format and the look of it, and it offers great protection for the books. And I admire anyone who can make things.

Nice, Martin. You say you designed and built it yourself? Impressive!

Nice job! And when you fill those, can you stack more on top?

Oh Martin, that is wonderful but I was hoping you were going to come up with something I could use to help me with my own shelving problem. Do-it-yourself? No hope! I even need assistance with flat-packs these days....(Sigh)

Very nicely done! A handsome piece of furniture, and the books are both well protected and easy to reach. I'm quite impressed.

Rosefolly

Thank you all! I knew it would be appreciated here.

Yes, designed and built it myself. If anyone is particularly interested, I can take the shelves right out and take photos of the inside - you can see then exactly how it all works.

Carolyn - no, I can't stack any more on top - the shelves are actually sliding on the wooden floor with thick felt pads. They would be much too heavy to work in the air once filled with books - it would require some serious metalwork to make something like that work!

I did seriously consider making the whole thing one shelf higher, so to speak, but I decided that (a) the bookshelves would possibly be too heavy to move easily once full and (b) it would be a bit too big and oppressive in the room.

So, the question is - what happens when it's full? Well, I have room for 2011 in the bookcase, and then I have to make a decision. Either I'll work on the assumption that I'll always have a few gaps in the collection, and close up some of them, or, more likely, I'll requisition the bottom shelf of the traditional bookcase above it and put some doors on them - and then I can keep going for another six years. That'll take me to 2017....and I refuse to plan any further out than that!

Well done Martin. I can see all those school wood-work classes weren't in vain and no Swedish mega-store/meat ball moments were involved. ;-)
After 2017 you will probably have to move to a bigger house; one with its own library.

Why "a few gaps in the collection"? Sorry if you explained this before but I am curious!
I would like to see the innards. Could you enter this in one of those "Inventors" TV programmes?

Since my daughter was clever enough to marry a man who builds things, (he built her a wardrobe for her birthday-his father built her a breakfront for her books for graduate school graduation) please do post some "inside guts" photos-she loved the two pictures and they need book storage badly!

annpan - I'm collecting all the books which have either won the Booker Prize or those on the shortlist. That's a total of 243 books since 1969; I am missing 67 of these. Hence, the gaps in my collection. I'm leaving space in the bookcases for the missing books, to avoid the inevitable "shifting up" of dozens of books when I get some of the earlier ones.

I'll put in some "innards" photos then - give me a day or two.

I admire your organization skills. And, yes, I spotted those wine corks right away! ;-)

That is just ingenious, Martin. I've never seen anything like it. And good-looking too. -- Kathy

Does it have rollers or wheels under each pull out?
It kind of reminds me of a chest of drawers on it's side !
Good idea, nicely done !

Can you post some pics of the books on the shelves?

I'm thinking a mid-century modern chest of drawers, with squared simple lines, could be retro-fitted to do this...and we just happen to have one in the attic.

Martin, that's brilliant! Attractive and efficient - I'd love to have a set up like that myself.

Martin,

I am impressed. You can store so many more books in that space than with a traditional bookcase. Good planning!

As promised - a couple more photos.

The first is the bottom of one of the bookcases. You can see that there are no wheels - it's just a T-shaped bit of wood with felt pads stuck on.

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And the second is the inside of the main box, with three bookcases pulled clear out of it - you can see where the long part of the T just slides in between the white bits of conti. And at the top there are wooden slides to keep the bookcases steady at the top, and to keep them apart.

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I was determined to do the whole job without actually screwing anything to the rather nice floor...! Hence the multiple angle brackets.

Siobhan - you asked me to publish some pictures of books on the shelves...but the second picture above shows exactly that, I thought. What do you have in mind?

Very nice, you know how it is - when you see someone else do something well, you think, "I can do that!" Although I will not in fact by attempting any woodworking.

Martin, I was trying to glimpse the titles. Of course I can look up the shortlists, but it is quite something to see a collection like that.

Ah!

OK - I'll publish a few of those as well.

OK, Siobhan (and anyone else who is interested).

Click on the picture to see a full-size version. The empty shelves indicate where I have the gaps in the collection - as you can see, the older the books, the more gaps I have!

That is quite an impressive collection and no doubt very valuable! You should be very proud.

Martin.......you are very clever and talented!
A second career looms??