Rare Books and Collectibles

History of Clocks

The earliest type of ‘clock’ or timepiece was the sundial. Devised around 3500 BC, it was reasonably accurate although it required sunlight to operate. The sundial uses a centred stick to cast shadows on a circular disk as the Earth turned on its axis.

Other ancient devices used to estimate the passing of time included candle clocks and hourglasses. However the waterclock was a more accurate timepiece, calibrated using a sundial, used since around the 16th century. The main advantage being it could be used after dark or in cloudy or rainy conditions. Various mechanical clocks were developed throughout the middle ages, with spring-driven clocks invented in the 1400s.

Antique Clock Collections

Antique clocks are one of the most popular collectible items of this era. Old clocks are much more elaborate and intricate than today’s technological timepieces since the art of clock making took skill and were handcrafted. Collectible antique clocks come in a wide range of styles and types, from the big grandfather clocks to highly decorative mantel clocks, rectangular bracket clocks, the traveller’s carriage clock, remarkable cuckoo clocks, banjo clocks, promotional advertising clocks, mission clocks of the 1900s, anniversary clocks, unusual art deco and retro clocks, and many, many more.

The longcase clock is the best known of all antique clocks, also called grandfather, grandmother and granddaughter clocks depending on their size. They are tall (6 – 8 ft), freestanding, elegant clocks that were usually passed down from generation to generation as treasured heirlooms. They are well known for their swinging pendulums and hourly chimes. Typically crafted of various woods (walnut, oak, mahogany, etc), they mostly run for 30 hours or 8 days before needing to be rewound. The intricate inlays and unique lacquering, the beautiful chimes, the sentimental value as an heirloom, and its remarkable size are some of many reasons for the value placed on the grandfather clock, making it a sought after collectible item.

History of Newspapers

The first forerunners of newspapers were produced in Renaissance Europe with privately circulated newsletters that passed along information to merchants concerning politics, economics, and ‘human interest’ features. In the late 1400s Germany produced the first printed news pamphlets or broadsides, usually with highly sensationalised content. The first successfully published news pamphlets in the English-speaking world was The Weekly Newes in 1622. The first of these pamphlets were actually only produced when a significant event occurred.

The 1640s and 1650s produced a variety of news reports in a newsbook format, leading up to the first true newspaper in 1666 – the London Gazette. This was the only officially sanctioned newspaper for almost a generation, although there were many periodical titles in print by the end of the century.

Today newspapers publish a wide variety of material from news to politics, economics and business, sport, art and entertainment, opinion articles and letters, advertising, weather forecast, classified ads, reviews, comics and puzzles. There are also many different types of newspapers, from those geographically defined (such as The Australian) to those targeted at a specific audience, whether business or sports or a specific language.

Newspaper Collections

Newspapers are collected for many different reasons. Some people collect newspapers that were printed on the day of their child’s birth to give to them on the day they become adults. It is a nostalgic practice that shows the son or daughter what was going on in the world on the day they were born.

Another form of newspaper collecting is when a newspaper is kept for it report on a very significant event, whether a huge earthquake, a royal wedding or a stock market crash. By collecting newspapers reporting events of significant historical impact, collectors are essentially compiling a record of history as it happens. As an anonymous author wrote: “Journalists write the first draft of history”. A significant collector of newspapers are libraries, where every issue of the region’s main newspapers is collected and often stored on microfilm for historical and research purposes.

Cartography

Cartography is the art of mapmaking, the crafting of representations of the Earth upon a flat surface. Maps are symbolic depictions that highlight the relationship between elements of that space, including objects, regions and themes. There are many different types of maps. The most commonly used maps today are road maps – which depict streets, roads and highways to enable motorists to reach their destination. However the first maps did not attempt to represent areas of the Earth at all, rather the earliest known maps were of the heavens. Cave paintings dating to 16 500 BC were found in the Lascaux caves, depicting star constellations.

The earliest known world map is the Imago Mundi portraying sixth century BC Babylonia. It shows Babylon on the Euphrates, surrounded by a round landmass on which Assyria and Armenia were labelled, in turn encircled by Oceanus with seven islands. The accompanying text mentions seven outer regions beyond the ocean displayed.

According to some scholars, these early world maps demonstrated a significant development in the intellectual capacity of humans and of culture. This is because maps served to record the advancement of human knowledge, which could then be passed down to succeeding generations.

Antique Maps

Although today’s technology allows for the depiction of space in three-dimensional, dynamic and interactive forms, most maps are still static and two-dimensional, just as the earliest maps were. This is not to say that the craft of mapmaking has not evolved. For example, the orientation of maps has changed over time. The orientation of a map is the relationship between the directions on the map and the corresponding compass directions in reality. Many medieval European maps were centered on Jerusalem with East at the top. However there was no single convention as to orientation until around 1400, with the reintroduction of Ptolemy’s Geography.

Antique maps are sought after by many collectors because of their unique ability to reflect the history of the world. Maps are not simple geographic representations but are embedded with values and culture. For example, you can trace the rise and fall of empires and their imperialistic ambitions through maps.