
The roll top desk is basically a nineteenth century reworking of a formerly well-liked sort of desk called the pedestal desk The pedestal desk was a big, stand alone desk that was made of a straightforward working surface that sat on either little, stacked drawer cupboards or on pedestals. This desk also had a huge drawer that fit under the centre of the work space that sat above the user's lap. The inventor of roll top desk took the design of the pedestal desk and went two steps further.

