Joseph Ives and the Looking Glass Clock

Joseph Ives (1782-1862) and the Looking Glass Clock: A True Story of Risk and Reward in America's Age of Invention by Mary Jane Dapkus

Mary Jane Dapkus presents a trove of never-before-published primary source data, and relates a previously untold story about one of Bristol's best loved clock makers. Highlights include the establishment of a direct link between the looking glass clocks of the late 1810s and early 1820s, and Noble Jerome's revolutionary 1839 patent 30-hour stamped brass movement, the latter being the primary catalyst for Bristol's ascendancy to global clock manufacturing leadership. It was not previously known either that the looking glass clocks lie at the center of a notorious scandal involving Lott Newell, the Lewis family, and the 1801 Miles Lewis House (now the ACWM headquarters), or that they lie at the center of Ives' and his partners' chaotic financial lives long after the last of them were made. Now there is proof. Included with the book is a superb analysis of Ives' looking glass clock movements written by Peter Gosnell, a retired professor of Applied Technology at the University of the Arts, London, who conducted numerous research visits to the Museum beginning in the 1990s. Abundantly illustrated, we believe the book offers much to interest all.

Print length: 191 pages

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