By Anne Gilbert for The Antique Shoppe Newspaper

Next time you see someone punching away at an ugly lap top computer remember portable writing desks were once things of beauty. As lap top desks in the 19th century they were treated as items of importance, decorated with brass, silver, tortoise shell and ivory. Perhaps today's industrial designers will take a hint add some decorative touches? Lap tops belong to the decades when letter writing and pensmanship were practiced almost as an art form... more