The Old English Master Clockmakers and Their Clocks - 1679-1820

Between the Restoration and the Regency, a small number of English workshops turned the measuring of hours into a fine art. Herbert Cescinskys 1938 survey is the collectors guide to the men and the movements.

Cescinsky (born 1875) spent his working life among English furniture and English timepieces, and had already written the standard reference on the subject with Malcolm R. Webster, English Domestic Clocks. First published by George Routledge & Sons, The Old English Master Clockmakers and Their Clocks boils that earlier work down to what matters most to a collector: the men who signed the movements, and the pieces that carry their names.

He follows the trade from the coming of the pendulum, through the brass lantern clock and the rise of the tall case, to the dials and engraving that let a piece be placed and dated. Thomas Tompion, George Graham and Daniel Quare are all here, alongside the London and provincial makers who worked in their shadow. Photographs of surviving examples run throughout, and the writing stays practical - what to look at, and what it tells you.

This edition features:

• Cescinskys 1938 survey of the English trade at its height, from the Restoration to the Regency
• Coverage of the pendulum, escapements, the lantern clock, dials and the growth of the tall case
• Thomas Tompion, George Graham, Daniel Quare and the other celebrated London names
• Photographs of surviving movements, dials and cases throughout
• A working reference for collectors, dealers and anyone cataloguing period English timepieces