Edwards & Roberts (1845-1899) were the leading London exponents of the Georgian and Louis XV-Empire revival-styles of the late Victorian/early Edwardian era. Competing with Litchfield and Wright and Mansfield, Edwards & Roberts traded as antique and modern cabinet makers and importers of ancient furniture. Indeed, the old French styles of the period Louis XIV, XV, XVI and the Empire were much in request (according to the Clergy of St. Anne's Soho, Two centuries of Soho, 1898, p.188-192), necessitating large-scale expansion and the numerous places of business upon the labels enable this writing-table to be dated to the late 1870's/early 1880's. See Clive Wainwright, 'The Dark Ages of Art Revised', Connoisseur, June 1978, p.95-105.