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This post is part of a series, Reading Time at HSNY, written by our librarians. Today’s post was written by St John Karp.
At the Horological Society of New York (HSNY), I’m one of the librarians with an affinity for cataloging. You might think that’s as straightforward as writing down the title of the book and the name of the author, but you’d be forgetting one thing: clocks and watches are weird. We deal with a lot of unusual items that most other libraries don’t have to worry about. Your local public library, for example, has to keep well stocked on the latest popular fiction. The world of horology, on the other hand, produces so many strange things that it’s not always clear what the title of a book is. Sometimes it’s not even clear whether or not the thing is a book at all. So let’s have a gander at some of the weird and wonderful things that clock- and watchmakers have launched into the world. Then we might find an answer to the question: when is a book not a book?
When It’s a Catalog
Richard Mille’s “Endless Summer” catalog featuring an accordion booklet and three jigsaw puzzles
A lot of kinda-sorta-maybe books are watch catalogs. If their status as a book is in doubt, then their status as a catalog is unambiguous at least. It’s just that the catalog might come in any shape or form you can imagine because watch brands like to project a certain image and make their offerings stand out. I haven’t seen a catalog distributed in the form of a pogo stick or a mind-altering mist, but it’s only a matter of time. “Prices: A Million Times, 2023” is a catalog of 17 cards in a box from Humans since 1982, the Swedish design team that produced the fabulous ClockClock 24 kinetic time-telling sculpture that hangs on the wall of HSNY’s Jost Bürgi Research Library. Each card in the set depicts a different clock produced by Humans since 1982 with accompanying information. The title, not written on the box, had to come from a price list at the back of the deck.
Taking it one step further (or one step weirder) is a catalog from Richard Mille, “Endless Summer,” which contains a folded accordion-style brochure of Richard Mille’s watches with accompanying poetry. Oh, yeah, and three jigsaw puzzles. Yes, jigsaw puzzles. I haven’t had the courage to try and jumble up the pieces and put them back together, partly because I’m not cool enough to do a Richard Mille puzzle, and partly because these catalogs are so collectible that they sell for about $350 on eBay. I make very sure to wipe the chocolate off my fingers before handling this catalog.
A symphony in brown: the “Montres de Poche” catalog from Longines
Another entry in the “let’s put a bunch of cards in a box” category is “Montres de Poche,” a catalog from Longines. A luxurious faux-leather sleeve looks like a book and opens like a book, but inside are 55 high-gloss photographs of luxury pocket watches so dripping with class that I feel like I ought to have a knighthood just to gaze upon their resplendent majesty. It also contains a brochure, though this one isn’t folded like an accordion or split into a jigsaw puzzle. It does, however, come drenched in the browns and oranges of the 1970s and, whenever I gaze upon it, I feel myself transported to a room with shag carpets and a popcorn ceiling.
When It’s for Kids
Children’s books are often more than they seem
We also have an extensive collection of juvenile literature, another source of mysterious objects that might be books — or might be something else. “Golden Clock Book” is one of many books we have that teach kids how to tell the time. However, in addition to the book part, this one also has a whopping massive clock sticking out the top with movable hands. It is, in fact, so tall that it doesn’t fit on any of our shelves. When summer comes I’m going to climb on board this thing and go surfing.
“Talking Kiddie Book with Playtime Clock” is doing triple duty — as a picture book, a toy clock, and a squeeze toy that makes a raspy squeaking sound reminiscent of the one my neighbor’s pug makes. “The Time Book” seems like an obvious candidate for just classifying as a book, but it does have a whole wristwatch attached to the cover, so yes, it’s a book, but it’s also a constant reminder of the ubiquity of quartz timekeepers. The colorful dinosaur looks like it’s learning how to read the time, but to me, it is as a herald of doom, an ill-omened Harpy, the specter of Death tapping me on the shoulder and whispering in my ear, “Remember, one day you’ll die.”
When It’s Two Books
It’s always confusing to find out that a book is secretly something else too, but it’s possibly even more confusing when a book is actually two or more books. This isn’t uncommon in a couple of cases. In the days of old when knights were bold and toilets weren’t invented, books were sold without being bound. You bought a sheaf of loose papers that you took to a bindery to have bound between covers, like buying a pair of unhemmed trousers and having a tailor hem them for you. Often, book collectors would have two or more publications bound together in one binding, particularly if they were on a related subject. We book people call this a “Sammelband,” which is German for “What have you done to my book?”
The other scenario where this happens a lot has to do with our librarian emeritus and donor, Fortunat Mueller-Maerki, who was very enterprising when it came to having small or loose items bound together in custom bindings. These bindings were often colorful and decorative, lending a splash of color to our library, although it does present me with the occasional mystery when I pick up a book and have to figure out what it is.
Typically we won’t have more than two books bound together in the same volume, but I have worked with rare books that contained three, four, or even five books bound into a single Frankenbook.
When It’s a Clock
“Die Sternenuhr” cardboard clock kit
We’ve already seen a book that has a whole wristwatch strapped to the cover and several that contain toy clocks with movable hands, but what if the book doesn’t just contain a clock — what if the book is a clock? I mean, technically, any book could be a clock if you just stood it up and used it as the gnomon of an impromptu sundial, but don’t sass me, I’m trying to make a point here. “Make Your Own Working Paper Clock” is a book that you attack with a pair of scissors, cut into 160 pieces, and assemble to form a fully functional weight-driven clock. The cover states repeatedly that “it actually works,” suggesting that the authors have already had to fend off some doubting Thomases. “The Working Clock/Timer” is another iteration on the concept, this time with “only 47 parts.” It also promises very earnestly that it “actually works” (emphasis and astonishment in the original).
In a similar vein are “Die Digital-Sonnenuhr,” “Die Ring-Sonnenuhr,” and “Die Sternenuhr,” three kits that you can use to build your own sundial. “You fiend!” I hear you cry in outrage. “You said it had to be kinda-sorta a book, you can’t go cheating by throwing a kit into the mix.” Ah, but wait — these kits were issued by the publisher with International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs). I’m counting them.
I really didn’t think I’d find anything too hilarious when I went looking for kit books. Strange, yes; quirky, yes; but hilarious, no. Then I happened upon “Miniature Wooden Clocks for the Scroll Saw,” which contains templates you can use to cut decorative patterns for your homemade clock. Categories of patterns include animals, vehicles, and sports, in case you want to depict some hardcore golf and skiing action on your miniature decorative clock, because nothing says “action sports” like a woodworking project.
Golfing and skiing scroll saw templates for a wooden clock
And Beyond!
The Center for Book Arts is a non-profit that promotes the study of the book as an art form. It recently hosted an exhibition called “The Best Kept Secret: 200 Years of Blooks.” You read that right: blooks, “a contraction of ‘book-look.’” The exhibition featured about 70 objects that look like books but aren’t, such as a flask, a lantern, a vanity set, a lighter, and a spy kit. Clearly the fascination with book-like things goes beyond HSNY. It’s interesting that so many people have tested the boundaries of something that should be clearly defined. Everyone knows what a book is, right? But there are so many things that are just on the line, or that maybe fall slightly on one side or the other. Once you start poking around at what counts as a book and what doesn’t, you wind up being less sure than when you started. What is a book? What’s a clock? Do I even exist? I’ve got lost down an existential rabbit hole. Maybe a scroll saw woodworking project will calm me down. I know just the blook.
