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Playing Their Parts: 19th Century Automata, Musical Boxes and Singing Birds
In this book, the glorious automata and mechanical music of the 19th and early 20th century are truly "playing their parts". Playing their mechanical parts, they perform extraordinary motions and issue compelling music that is as transfixing today as when first created. 150 splendid examples of these automata and musical boxes, 1780-1960, are shown in this book with detailed descriptions of their motions, music, historical background, and useful commentary. Each example is photographed in award-winning color, many with detailed insert photos, and each is identified by maker, country of origin, value, and date.
Hardcover
Published January 1, 2005
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February 9, 2019
All these amazing, 19th century mechanical marvels! Dancing clowns, a one-man band, acrobats and a digesting duck. Automata are dolls or figures with clockwork mechanisms that allow them to move, write, play the piano and even draw pictures. They were very expensive to make and were the first generation of robots.
“Playing Their Parts: 19th Century Automata, Musical Boxes and Singing Birds” by Florence Theriault is a enchanting book in so many ways. Not only does she cover the background history of 150 objects but also provides good color photos of these magical creatures. Each automata/ musical boxes either moves/plays music or does both and it is explained in good detail. She covers the period from 1780 to 1960.
I especially appreciated that she explains who made each piece, the date and the country of origin. The history of automata, started with the Greeks. The Greek word “automata”means acting of one's own will. A mathematician named Hero of Alexandra, invented a water basin that featured metal birds singing then a mechanical owl would turn its head and silence the birds. (He also invented the first vending machine.) In Jewish legend, King Solomon of Israel created in his royal palace, a throne that when he stood upon it, mechanical lions and tigers helped him up the steps by making their paws move.
In the Middle Ages, in 1206, a book was published by Muslim polymath Al-Jazari called “The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.” He described 100 different devices, including an amazing floating boat with a water-powered orchestra that could play music to entertain royal guests. Al-Jazari built roaming peacock automata as well as a mechanical waitress that could serve tea.
Leonardo da Vinci built a mechanical lion in the Renaissance era to honor King Louis XII. It could move its tail, open it's mouth and even stand on hind legs. And in the late 1600's in the Netherlands. Dutch scientist, Christian Huygens created a machine for the King of France of an entire fighting mechanical army.
Pierre Jaquet-Droz was a Swiss watchmaker and mathematician born in late eighteenth century. He made some of the most famous and amazing pieces of automata with his son Henri-Louis and his partner Jean-Frederic Leschot.. They made three dolls that still amaze: "The Writer” made of 6,000 pieces (can write up to forty different letters after it dips its pen in ink); “The Musician" made of 2,500 pieces, who plays the organ and bows after each piece; and the “The Draughtsman” made of 2,000 pieces and can draw four pictures including one of King Louis XV of France.
Joseph Faber, an Austrian inventor. spent twenty-five years building a “talking machine” called “the Euphonia.” He displayed it in 1845 at the Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia to huge crowds that were shocked and thrilled. It had a bizarre looking head with a mechanical replica of the human throat and vocal organs and it spoke in a monotone. Later, Alexander Graham Bell's father, who was a teacher and researcher of physiological phonetics, would see the device and tell his inventor son about it.
I enjoyed this book immensely, highly recommend it and look forward to reading more books from this author. Five Stars.
“Playing Their Parts: 19th Century Automata, Musical Boxes and Singing Birds” by Florence Theriault is a enchanting book in so many ways. Not only does she cover the background history of 150 objects but also provides good color photos of these magical creatures. Each automata/ musical boxes either moves/plays music or does both and it is explained in good detail. She covers the period from 1780 to 1960.
I especially appreciated that she explains who made each piece, the date and the country of origin. The history of automata, started with the Greeks. The Greek word “automata”means acting of one's own will. A mathematician named Hero of Alexandra, invented a water basin that featured metal birds singing then a mechanical owl would turn its head and silence the birds. (He also invented the first vending machine.) In Jewish legend, King Solomon of Israel created in his royal palace, a throne that when he stood upon it, mechanical lions and tigers helped him up the steps by making their paws move.
In the Middle Ages, in 1206, a book was published by Muslim polymath Al-Jazari called “The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.” He described 100 different devices, including an amazing floating boat with a water-powered orchestra that could play music to entertain royal guests. Al-Jazari built roaming peacock automata as well as a mechanical waitress that could serve tea.
Leonardo da Vinci built a mechanical lion in the Renaissance era to honor King Louis XII. It could move its tail, open it's mouth and even stand on hind legs. And in the late 1600's in the Netherlands. Dutch scientist, Christian Huygens created a machine for the King of France of an entire fighting mechanical army.
Pierre Jaquet-Droz was a Swiss watchmaker and mathematician born in late eighteenth century. He made some of the most famous and amazing pieces of automata with his son Henri-Louis and his partner Jean-Frederic Leschot.. They made three dolls that still amaze: "The Writer” made of 6,000 pieces (can write up to forty different letters after it dips its pen in ink); “The Musician" made of 2,500 pieces, who plays the organ and bows after each piece; and the “The Draughtsman” made of 2,000 pieces and can draw four pictures including one of King Louis XV of France.
Joseph Faber, an Austrian inventor. spent twenty-five years building a “talking machine” called “the Euphonia.” He displayed it in 1845 at the Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia to huge crowds that were shocked and thrilled. It had a bizarre looking head with a mechanical replica of the human throat and vocal organs and it spoke in a monotone. Later, Alexander Graham Bell's father, who was a teacher and researcher of physiological phonetics, would see the device and tell his inventor son about it.
I enjoyed this book immensely, highly recommend it and look forward to reading more books from this author. Five Stars.
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