~~Around the turn of the century a different style of lamp was offered by the major lamp manufactures known as the Library Lamp. It is what we, as collectors, refer to as "flat wicks." The wick is a flat one usually about 1" wide.
~~The lamps themselves are glass, as are the shades that go with them. Often they have a pull down mechanism allowing the home owner to pull down the lamp to retrieve it for cleaning, wick trimming and filling. Some of the shades, as on this one, are plain milk white but many are very highly decorated. Some have paintings in the glass itself.
~~The better the condition of the brass work and the fancier the shade the more money the lamp is worth.
~~They were strategically placed around the home not only for light but also for decoration. In this era, the early 1900s, there were often 20-30 lamps in a more affluent home and it was not uncommon for the family to employ a person whose sole job was to clean, polish, trim wicks and fill the lamps with kerosene.