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Search - Clocks

Clocks
Author: Douglas H. Shaffer, Brenda Gilchrist (Editor)

The Smithsonian Illustrated Library of Antiques — Clocks, more than any other type of furniture, arouse a special affection. Words written long ago in a moving tribute to a tall clock by an unknown admirer are testament enough: "You are the voice of my home--may those who follow me listen too, and through the inward searchin... more »g you inspire, also learn of peace, of beauty, and of love." According to the author, the appeal of these beguiling objects is three-fold, lying in their historic interest, their intriguing mechanics and their captivating artistry.

Taking a novel approach to the subject, Clocks starts with a close study of one particular American clock, the pillar-and-scroll shelf clock developed by Eli Terry in Connecticut in the second decade of the nineteenth century. The detailed investigation of the mechanics of this clock provides the reader with a basic understanding of the operation of clocks in general. Since the clock is also of historical significance--it marked the transformation of clockmaking from a craft into an industry in the United States--and its case of undoubted beauty, these aspects are examined as well.

The reader is then introduced to the ancestors and contemporaries of--and successors to--this important clock, among them the tall clocks of New England that predated the pillar-and-scroll clock by more than a hundred years, Simon Willard's popular banjo clock, which was patented in 1802, and the smaller and lighter clocks made possible by the introduction of springs in the late 1830s, such as the beehive and acorn clocks. The section on clocks from America concludes with the great period of exports--by 1865 American clocks were being shipped by the thousands to about thirty countries--and incorporates a pictorial sampling of the wide variety of clocks produced by the huge clock industry in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Clockmaking in Europe during the Renaissance, and in Holland, France, England, Japan and elsewhere from the seventeenth century onward, is reviewed next. The significance of the French horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet, who worked in the period of the French Revolution, and that of the great Thomas Tompion of England, the dominant figure of the English Golden Age of clockmaking, which lasted from 1675 til 1725, is discussed in the valuable survey of remakable European clockmakers.

Finally, the chapter entitled "Time in a Pocket" deals with watchmaking in Europe beginning in the sixteenth century and in America after 1850.

A chapter on collecting, a glossary of special terms, a list of further reading and a guide to public collections of clocks and watches, where priceless pieces can be seen, extend the usefulness of this concise work.

ISBN-13: 9780910503297
ISBN-10: 091050329X
Publication Date: 6/1980
Pages: 128
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
Book Type: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
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Genres:

Crafts, Hobbies & Home >> Antiques & Collectibles >> Clocks & Watches

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