A General History of Horology (2022) - opinions?

[rstl99]

I'm curious about the new book published by Oxford University Press in 2022, edited by British horological writers Anthony Turner, James Nye, and Jonathan Betts. Apparently features writings from 35 contributors on different subjects.

If some of you may have purchased it, what your opinion on relevance, usefulness and uniqueness of the book? It is not cheap, being a rather large book in slipcase from the UK, and I already own several general "history of horology" tomes from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (written in France, England, Germany).

Since I am more interested in antique than twentieth century horology, I'm just not sure what a present day book would provide that the great horological tomes of the past did not.

Look forward to your impressions.

Regards,

Robert

 

[John Matthews]

I have the book and I am pleased with the purchase.

Freely admitting I have many gaps in my knowledge, I find the book excellent if I want any overview of a particular aspect of horology that I am not familiar with. It's not a book for expanding your knowledge of an area that you have a specific interest in. Which is what I expected from the title.

John

 

[rstl99]

Thanks John, for that useful feedback from someone who's actually been able to flip through the book and sample some of its content.

Sounds like it's a book that has greater breadth than depth on any particular subject, which is understandable given its broad general historical objective. It's obviously been a massive undertaking by the editors (spearheaded by Anthony Turner I understand), and a challenge to get this ambitious project to completion, through the pandemic etc.

I'll probably stick for now with the various (older) books in my library (many of them feel like old friends), which probably cover more completely some of the areas of antique horology that are of more interest to me. And several of these books I own (from among Basserman, Clutton, Baillie, Britten, Rees, Thiout, Berthoud, Alexandre, Tardy, Edwards, Loomes, etc), also do a very good job of covering a wide swath of horological history in various sectors or countries (up to the nineteenth or early twentieth century, anyway).

Horological scholarship and studies in the 20th and 21st centuries have obviously introduced many new facts and details about many horologists and other sectors of horology, but they are not necessarily ones that interest me greatly, if at all. For example, electrical horology, which I know is a strong area of interest of one of the editors (Nye). And countless amateur horological historians and writers have contributed many articles on various horologists and some of their works, so perhaps this book has tapped into some of this more "recent" knowledge, published in the various horological publications.

A review of the book (by a non-horologist interestingly) in the latest issue of Antiquarian Horology (with which two of the editors, Nye and Betts, are deeply affiliated) offered interesting insights about the book. Including that the production values lacked a bit: pages are quite thin, some images are fuzzy, and the index was evidently a challenge to develop. Sounds like it's more of a book to browse through for subjects of interest, than to read front to back. And that it contains many interesting aspects of horology that may not have been covered elsewhere. The reviewer provided a sample of many of the varied subjects covered in the book, which I suppose should provide worthwhile reading to many curious readers looking to broaden their knowledge in different areas.

Thanks again for sharing your early impressions of the book. I'll probably add it to my "future acquisition" list, though not necessarily at the top of that list (too many large - and expensive - horological books in my bookshelves already )

Regards,
Robert

 

[rstl99]

p.s. Since I don't have an immediate need nor avid curiosity to read this book, and would only have interest in some of its articles, I did the smart thing and suggested to my local public library that they order a copy. That way, I can borrow it and read the sections of interest to me, and other residents here can also borrow it for their own particular horological interests. And it can be a great learning resource for younger residents or students curious about horological history.