w - GERVAISE DURAND, A FINE PAIR OF BIBLIOTHEQUES PARIS, CIRCA 1880

Gervais-Maximilien-Eugène Durand, born in Paris on the 30^th July 1839 started work in 1870 at 12 rue de La Cerisaie and moved to the rue de Beautreillis and subsequently to rue St Antoine. He was the first of three generations of highly successful cabinet makers, exhibiting widely at the International Exhibitions. At the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, he was commended as “un ébénistes aussi habile que modeste, quie expose pour la première fois les meubles de premier ordre, dont il est à la fois le dessinateur et l’exécutant; il marche sur la voie tracée par les maîtres tel que Beurdelely et Dasson.” The quality of these bookcases justifies such high praise.