Clockmakers of Britain 1286 - 1700

Author: Brian Loomes

?? pages, 267 illustrations

Clockmakers of Britain 1286 - 1700 is an important new biographical reference source detailing all that is known about every recorded British maker of clocks and watches, who was born before 1700. This book includes 6,230 makers, who between them had several thousand apprentices and journeymen, who (where known) are also listed. For the vast majority of clockmakers and watchmakers this information is presented here for the first time. References are given to detailed articles about particular clockmakers.

For most makers for whom work is known to the author, the type of clock or watch is specified along with known variants of the way he signed his name and location. For some of these clockmakers and watchmakers no item of work has yet been documented, in some cases because he worked under a master as a journeyman.

As well as details of clockmakers, watchmakers and others working in the horological trades whose work survives, this book also includes all those known only through documentary sources. The biographical facts about each maker are mostly from research undertaken by the author over a period of almost half a century, supplemented by details from quoted publications on regional clockmakers.

This book includes 267 illustrations and will be of great value to all those interested in the earliest period of British clockmaking. It is an essential reference work for collectors, dealers, museums and libraries.

The origins of this book clearly lie with Brian Loomes' previous book The Early Clockmakers of Great Britain published in 1981. This new book however contains a wealth of information not included in the previous book (four or five times the quantity of information), about 1200 additional makers names and all the authors subsequent research over the last 33 years.