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Metamorphic library steps

Overview

Metamorphic library steps are a type of archaic dual-use furniture

Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...

, consisting of a small folding staircase that can be transformed into chair

Chair

A chair is a raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs often have the seat raised above floor level, supported by four legs. A chair without a back or arm rests is a stool, or when raised up, a bar stool or high chair . A chair with arms is an armchair and with...

or desk

Desk

A desk is a furniture form and a class of table often used in a work or office setting for reading or writing on or using a computer. Desks often have one or more drawers to store office supplies and papers. Unlike a regular table, usually only one side of a desk is suitable to sit on . Not all...

form (such as a small writing table

Writing table

A writing table has a series of drawers directly under the surface of the table, to contain writing implements, so that it may serve as a desk...

or library table). In desk form, it can also be considered a mechanical desk

Mechanical desk

A mechanical desk is usually an antique desk type which was produced during the 18th or the 19th century. At one extreme we can find such desks furnished with a multitude of panels that swing out while stacks of small drawers pop up when a user lowers or extracts the main writing surface or...

.

Metamorphic library steps were first built in the mid-18th century for the private libraries and office

Office

An office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty...

s of the European

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...

nobility

Nobility

Nobility is a state-privileged status which is generally hereditary, but which may also be personal only. Titles of nobility are usually associated with present or former monarchies. The term originally referred to those who were "known" or "notable" and was applied to the highest social class in...

or the Bourgeoisie

Bourgeoisie

Historically, the bourgeoisie were a social class of people, characterized by their ownership of capital and the related culture. They were a part of the middle or merchant classes of European feudalism, where their power came from employment, education, and wealth, as distinguished from those...

. The number of specialised rooms in the typical manor was increasing, so existing ones, like the library

Library

A library is a collection of sources, resources, and services, and the structure in which it is housed; it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual. In the more traditional sense, a library is a collection of books. It can mean the collection,...

, had to use space more efficiently.

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