Antique lap desk

As an antique the lap desk is a smaller variant of the writing slope. It is also called a writing box or a writing cabinet. In certain instances it is known as a portable desk

Portable desk

The portable desk has not one but many forms. In a sense, the portable desk is a long-lost ancestor of the portable computer, and the modern laptop could be considered an atavistic grandchild of the 19th-century Lap desk....

, a term which is usually applied to larger forms. Most antique lap desks are really meant to be used on a table or some other stable surface. They are often strongly built of fine hardwoods like mahogany or walnut.

Antique lap desks had hinged writing surfaces, often covered in leather, felt, or other material, that flip up to reveal storage space for papers. Individual compartments were designed to hold inkwells, pens, sealing wax, and other contemporary writing materials. Some desks also had concealed storage compartments.

They were, in effect, the fore-times equivalent of a PDA

Personal digital assistant

A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...

 -- that is, they supplied, to the traveller, many of the conveniences of carrying round an entire escritoire

Escritoire

An escritoire or secretary desk comes in various styles. One version is a small, portable writing desk with a sloping front door, hinged at the bottom edge, that can be opened downwards to provide a writing surface. It is usually larger than a lap desk...

. From them has come the concept of the briefcase

Briefcase

A briefcase is a narrow box-shaped bag or case used mainly for carrying papers and other documents and equipped with a handle. Lawyers commonly use briefcases to carry briefs to present to a court, hence the name...

 not just as a carrier for papers, but as a portable writing place, and thus the laptop computer.

Modern lap desk

As a modern form the lap desk is meant primarily for use in bed and other similar circumstances. It is also known as a bed desk. There are a wide variety of forms available, but as a rule it is much smaller and simpler than the antique lap desk, having at the most a small drawer or holding area for a ballpoint pen

Ballpoint pen

A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument with an internal ink reservoir and a sphere for a point. The internal chamber is filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at its tip during use by the rolling action of a small sphere...

 and a pencil

Pencil

A pencil is a writing implement or art medium usually constructed of a narrow, solid pigment core inside a protective casing. The case prevents the core from breaking, and also from marking the user’s hand during use....

. It is also made of much cheaper materials, save for a few craft productions.

Certain lap desks have a removable monopod, which makes them collapsible cousins to the lectern desk

Lectern desk

The lectern desk is composed of two distinct forms, antique and modern.-Antique lectern desk:The antique is basically a lectern fitted with the conveniences needed to make writing easy, such as room for paper and writing implements. In a sense, it is a specialised and rarer form of standing desk...

. Others have two short collapsible legs, so that they can be used both in bed and on a lap, when the legs are folded. Finally, some come with a built-in battery powered lamp, continuing the tradition of those antique lap desks and writing slopes which had swinging or hinged brass candle holders built in. Some new lap desks now have a built-in cup holder

Cup holder

A cup holder is a device to hold a cup or other drinking vessel. It is a fixture in automobiles, trains, and other vehicles, as well as in some movie theatres, sports arenas, etc.- Automobiles :...

.

Most modern lap desks are considered specialty items and very few 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...

 dealers keep them in stock. They are present, however, in a large number of catalogs and on some commercial Web sites.

See also the list of desk forms and types.

External links (non-commercial)

• http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/Gallery/GalleryImage.aspx?id=4401
• http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/Gallery/GalleryImage.aspx?id=29723
• http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/Gallery/GalleryImage.aspx?id=4854