At last we have a newly published book to list! The book is by David Penney and is about the little known subject of Mail Guards' Watches, as used on mail coaches and the early railways.

I have been sorting out my personal bookshelves recently to make space, so there are various titles on the recent arrivals list which you can see here.

A few of the books currently in stock:

Mail Guards' Watches
As used on Mail Coaches and early Railways
David Penney

NEW. A brief history of the British Post Office's mail coaches and the strong, durably cased watch movements, often of several day's duration, as needed on some of the longer routes. Official post was first carried in mail coaches in 1784 and continued until the business transferred to the railways in the 1830's and 1840's. Card covers.

24 pages, well illustrated, 2025.

£15.00 Order Here

Buckinghamshire Clock & Watchmakers
Tim Marshall

NEW. An excellent, much needed, addition to the books about clock and watch makers in the English counties. The book traces the history of clock and watch making in Buckinghamshire from the early 17th to the 20th century; with biographical information on over 600 men and women associated with the craft together will illustrations of their work. Also included is a large section on turret clocks in the county, with more than 100 clocks listed including over 40 seventeenth and eighteenth century examples. With dust jacket.

421 pages, over 500 illustrations, 2019.

£35.00 Order Here

Dzik (W.H.):
Engraving on English Table Clocks: Art on a Canvas of Brass, 1660-1800
NEW. £75.00 Order Here * This book will soon be out of print *

Robey (J.): Gothic Clocks to Lantern Clocks - Short Duration Clocks & Rural Clocks 1480 - 1800
NEW. £75.00 Order Here

Vost (J.): Channel Islands Clockmakers 1680 - 1830
NEW. £14.50 Order Here * One copy only *

McKay (C.): J. Smith & Sons of Clerkenwell - Facsimiles
NEW. £12.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Miles (R.H.A.) & Ridout (M.): Brillié Electric Clocks
NEW. £15.00 Order Here * Three copies only *

Robey (J.) Editor: Your Time - Including the Contribution of Northwest England to the Development of Clocks and Watches
NEW. £20.00 Order Here * Four copies only *

Savoie (D.): Sundials - Design, Construction, and Use
NEW. £19.99 Order Here * one copy only *

La Mesure du Temps en Mer et les Horlogers Suisses
Estelle Fallet

O/P. A comprehensive study of Swiss marine chronometer makers and their work; some makers such as Nardin and Ditisheim are well-known, but this book also includes a lot of less well-known makers. The book includes a chapter on the Neuchâtel and Geneva Observatories where chronometers were tested and a list of all the chronometers (with their serial numbers) on trial at Neuchâtel between 1860 and 1984 - very useful for dating extant examples. A very good copy, pictorial boards, spine faded. [French language]

520 pages, illustrated, 1995.

£75.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Barraud (E.M.): Barraud, The Story of a Family
O/P. £75.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Cescinsky (H.): The Gentle Art of Faking Furniture
O/P. £30.00 Order Here * One copy only *

De Carle (D.): British Time
O/P. £15.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Drinkwater (P.I.): Oronce Finé's First Book of Solar Horology
O/P. £9.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Duncan (A.M.): Copernicus: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
O/P. £35.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Gatty (A.):
The Book of Sun-Dials. Collected by Mrs Alfred Gatty (first edition, 1872)
O/P. £125.00 less 10% Order Here * One copy only *

Nettell (D.F.): An Amateur's Guide to Automatic Winders
O/P. £10.00 Order Here * One copy only *

French Clocks the World Over (4 volume set)
Tardy

O.P. Part 1: 5th edition, 1981. Volume title: From their beginnings to the Louis XV - Louis XVI Transition period. Part 2: 5th edition, 1981. Volume title: From Louis XVI style to Louis XVIII - Charles X period. Part 3: 5th edition, 1982. Volume title: From the Louis-Philippe style to the Modern clock and the French provinces. Part 4: 5th edition, 1985. Volume title: Northern, Middle, Eastern and Mediterranean Europe; Japan. This is a large and comprehensive work, the four volumes have 356 pages, 392 pages, 524 pages, 618 pages respectively and a wealth of illustrations. Volume 3 also has chapters on clocks from the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Scotland, Ireland, the United States and Canada. An essential book for collectors of French decorative clocks with lots of illustrations. Since the publisher died some years ago this book has become very hard to find and the English language version (as here) even more so.

£595.00 less 10% Order Here * One copy only *

Taylor (J.C.) & Wolfendale (A.): The Excitement of Time - John Harrison, The Royal Society and Time Measurement
O/P. £10.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Snell (M.): Clocks and Clockmakers of Salisbury - 600 Years of Skill and Invention
O/P. £50.00 Order Here

Kemp (R.): The Fusee Lever Watch
O/P. £35.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Streeter (Edward W.):
Catalogue of Designs, and Prices, of ...Watches, Clocks ... (circa 1885)
O/P. £10.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Stevens (J.): Benjamin Gray 1676 - 1764 An Esteemed but Little-Known London Clockmaker
O/P. £10.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Touchet (P.): A Practical Manual of Electric and Electronic Horology (1963)
O/P. £20.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Illustrated Catalogue of Cathedral, Church, Turret & Musical Clocks
Henry Sainsbury

NEW. 38 pages, illus., 2005. A facsimile reprint of a trade catalogue from circa 1881 for the little known turret clock maker Henry Sainsbury founded in 1734. The range of products on offer, including clocks, carillons, bells and sundials, is extensive and suggests that the majority of the firms output was retailed and possibly signed by others. Card covers.

38 pages, illus., 2005.

£5.00 Order Here

Turner (A.J.): The Time Museum: Time Measuring Instruments: Water-Clocks, Sand-Glasses, Fire-Clocks
O/P. £110.00 less 10% Order Here * One copy only *

[Waltham Watch Co.]: Waltham Watch Papers volumes I & II
O/P. £10.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Robert (D.): Amazing Clocks
O/P. £15.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Ponsford (C.N.): Time in Exeter
O/P. £35.00 Order Here

Britten (F.J.): Old English Clocks - The Wetherfield Collection
O/P. £30.00 Order Here * Three copies only *

Baillie (G.H.): Watches Their History , Decoration and Mechanism
O/P. £12.00 Order Here

Gillett & Johnson: "Gillett" Clocks, Carillons, Bells
O/P. £35.00 Order Here * One copy only *

Greenwich Observatory (3 volume set)
Eric Forbes, A. J. Meadows & Derek Howse

O/P. Vol 1: Forbes (E.G.): Origins and early History (1675 - 1835). 204 pages, 14 figs, 1975. Vol 2: Meadows (A.J.): Recent History (1836 - 1975). 135 pages, 14 figs., 1975. Vol 3: Howse (D.): The Buildings and Instruments. 178 pages, 130 figs., 1975. Published to commemorate the tercentenary of the founding of Greenwich Observatory in 1675 this is an excellent work on its history, buildings and astronomical instruments. All 3 volumes are in fine condition, the original film wrappers now a little torn with some loss. Complete with fair original slipcase (splitting along joints at all 4 front corners).

£175.00 less 10% Order Here * One copy only *

Holtzapffel (J.J.): Hand or Simple Turning Principles and Practice
O/P. £15.00 Order Here

Wood (C.): Robert Molyneux's Astronomical Clocks and Chronometers
O/P. £15.00 Order Here * Two copies only *

That's all for this month but, as always, if there are any specific books you are looking for please send us an email - jeff@formby-clocks.co.uk - and we will do our best to find them for you.

With best wishes, Jeff & Ros Formby

Jeffrey Formby Antiques
Specialist in Horological Books & English Clocks
www.formby-clocks.co.uk
Phone UK: (0) 1608 650558