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Birmingham Steam Buses 1824-1910.

Keith Fletcher's Astounding "Church" Painting.


:1024: :1013:

Keith Fletcher has very kindly sent me a large picture of his "Church" oil painting of c 1835, which is attached below. I think you are all going to be as astounded as I am! :cool:

He has also sent a catalogue of illustrations from his 2008 exhibition, which I have also attached below.

Keith tells me that he has joined the BHF at my invitation (member Keithfletcher), but that he finds it all bewildering. I have reassured him that he is among friends and kindred spirits, and encouraged him to begin by browsing the BSB thread. If and when he chooses to join the BSB classroom, I know we'll make him very welcome.
 
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:cooleyes:A big SETI WOW! :cooleyes: Well done.

Deserved of savouring and analysis, but first reactions include - The original (surely) at last! And RED! Love the gent with stick hoping it will blow up, the frightened horses, detail of the early-macintosh-wearing driver and surely the first example of the cartoon staple dogs chasing after machine....

And the Catalogue illustrations (swoon). Am beginning to drool - want a steam coach mug. and the lovely miniature Church by Taschen (still the arbiter of taste)....

:hoteyes: It's like Christmas but am going to lie down for a bit :hoteyes:
 
Aidan said:
... The original (surely) at last! And RED! ...
Click to expand...

Yes, I had to lie down too. This is perhaps the original (by John Cooke). But compare with the LTM picture (post #237) that we also thought was a painting (they're quite different). And RED, proving that The Doctor was the real inventor of Midland Red livery! ;) Either that or is just teasing us, time-traveller style. If I wan't sure where the picture came from , I might think it was another Penfold "what might have been". We have seen some amazing things in the BSB classroom, but surely this takes the cake! :cool:
 
Just "dipping a toe" to see whether I can navigate this environment. May I point out that Taschen, as in Taschenkalendar, is the German word for 'pocket' nothing to do with the modern publishing company.
 
Welcome Professor Keith Fletcher!

Ah, Professor Fletcher! We are honoured by your visit to our humble Birmingham Steam Buses classroom. You are very welcome! :)
 
Happy to stand corrected Keith (given the modern company's predilection for human body parts it is perhaps as well) - and thank you for sharing your outstanding collection with us and hope to hear more of your in-depth knowledge of this area
 
I might have to retrospectively award the "Historically Accurate" prize to Penfold for his Midland Red "Church". [Uproar!]
 
Keith

Even though there is a surfeit of delights here, I notice there is no illustration of the following catalogue item. Wondered if you would share this and perhaps the taschen as attachments here so we can gaze upon their wonder - call it a Church Fest

45 GORDON, ALEXANDER
Historische und Practische Abhandlung uber Fortbewegung
ohne Thierkraft, mittelst Dampfwagen auf
gewohnlichen Landstrassen,... Aus dem Englischen.
Weimar : Im Verlage des Landes-Industrie-Comptoirs.
1833
8vo, viii, 324 pp, 14 plates (+ 2nd copy of pl.3), cont.
marbled bds, morocco label.
A German translation of Gordon on Elemental Locomotion,
the 14th plate is of Church’s Steam Carriage.
 
Hautsch's Firefighting Pump 1658.

It is pre-steam age, so :offtopic:, but I was fascinated by the Johann Hautsch 17th century child-powered carriage described and illustrated by Prof Fletcher. Here is a brief bio-pic of Nürnberg mathematician, instrument maker and "mechanician" Johann Hautsch (1575-1670). Hautsch also invented in 1658 a fire engine pump "by which 24 men could raise water to 80-100 ft". The picture attached below comes from an e-book of:

Georg Andreas Böckler (1617-1687). Theatrum Machinarum Novum. Nürnberg: Paulus Fürsten, [1661].

[If you would like to own a copy of this book, be prepared to sell your car or mortgage your house. A copy of the first Latin edition was offered for sale recently by a Swiss bookseller for more than au$12,000. :shocked:]
 
Gorgeous woodcut which we should feel privileged to view.

Still think we should rename this thread to "Something Steamy this way cometh" or similar.

Hautsch - think he was on to something there for the modern malaise - are there no prisons? are there no workhouses? are there no vehicles to power?..etc ad inf

Please sir, can I have some more Church...
 
Aidan said:
... German translation of Gordon on Elemental Locomotion ...
Click to expand...

Here are the 1832 and 1834 English editions of Gordon's Treatise Upon Elemental Locomotion, but I could find no plate of the "Church". The 1834 edition does contain the best technical description I have so far seen of the "Heaton" (pages n157-160), which also describes the excursion to the "Lecky Hill". ;)
 
Nice find Thylacine - He certainly "Trowed" right.

Interesting that the Works is given as Shadwell Street near St Chad's - wonder if directory assistance can be called into play to maybe establish the location.

Great detail (although "allegedly") of Shadwell Street - pick up 5 passengers - Northfield - L*ckey Hills - Bromsgrove return on 28th Aug 1833 at a Lick of nearly 8mph for the cost of half-a-crown of coals
 
In his 1834 edition, Alexander Gordon mentions another illustrious Molesworth forebear working for the steam cause. ;) On 29 April 1834 Sir William Molesworth (1810-1855), when MP for Cornwall Eastern, presented Goldsworthy Gurney's petition for the reduction in turnpike tolls for steam carriages. Mrs Fawcett's Life of ... Sir William Molesworth is available as an archive.org e-text, from which I have attached a portrait (left) of the great Molesworth seen in 1854.

It is interesting that one of the MPs speaking in support of the Gurney petition is Sir George Cayley (1773-1857), MP for Scarborough and "Father of Aviation", whose tinplate model of a "locomotive carriage for common roads" is in Prof Fletcher's collection. (Pictured right.)
 
Twas tempting to put on my Molesworth head for that splendid find but Mr Egley's Journeyman won the moment, I trow. Your avatar seems to have taken on a softer tone too about the time you became "Adept"
 
Yes, the adept Thylacine (does that mean I don't trip over my own feet? :rolleyes:). I like your new Molesworth "topper"! The trouble is, when you change your avatar, it changes on all historical posts. It would be nice if one's "avatar history" were preserved.
 
Aidan
i am not quite clear what works are supposed to be in shadwell st and when. Can you ennlighten me
 
Shadwell mills have already been mentioned briefly in an earlier post. Entry for 1833 ;
Heatons Brothers, manufrs.of mouldings,copper window sash bars, gilding
and dipping metals, button shanks,lathes, stamps, presses, and jobbing
smiths work, Shadwell-st. Mills.

The works is actually shown on the 1839 map below. Looking at Streetview it looks like somethining called FGF, which looks a bit like a prison from the outside, is there now

Mike

map_heatons_works_1839~0.jpg
 
I mention in the catalogue that "plate 14 is Church's Steam Carriage" because all three English editions have only 13 plates; the German publishers added the 14th. Germans seemed to have been particularly interested in Church's carriage - witness the Taschenkalender - and I also have a large (370 x 290mm) lithograph with German (strictly speaking Austrian, it is published in Vienna) of basically the same image i.e. a reversed and cleaned up version of my painting. If you want more information on Dr Church, particularly his typesetting machine, I would refer you to HUSS, Richard E : Dr. Church's "Hoax". An Assessment of Dr. William Church's Typographical Inventions in which is enunciated Church's Law. Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 1976.I am now going to try to add the images you asked for. If I fail I will send them to Thylacine by email and ask him to do the necessary.View attachment 54457View attachment 54458
 
Keith - sounds most interesting. We have been trying to find an eBook version of Huss's tome without luck so far. Intrigued what Church's Law is - what happened to that quiz idea?

The attachments don't seem to work :(. On my PC you "go advanced" click the attach paperclip icon, Add files, select the files, upload files, insert attachment, then save, phew!
 
BSB Reaches Number 6 on the Hit Parade!

The "full steam ahead" BSB thread has just chugged past Motorman's "Yardley Wood Bus Garage 70th Birthday", moving to number six on the "BHF / Birmingham Transport / Transport / The Buses" chart (with 4,000 views). Well done everybody! :cool:

[It will be some time before I can brag about this again. Ahead on the horizon (though apparently parked by the roadside) are "The Outer Circle" and the unassumingly named "buses" (with over 6,000 views each). Well over the horizon are friendly rivals "Midland Red at Digbeth" (over 12,700 views) and "Midland Red Early Days" (over 14,200 views). In number one position (as is right and proper for a Birmingham forum), off the planet and on its rocket-powered way to The Moon, is "Birmingham buses" (27,700 views).]
 
Keith - the Lithograph would also find an appreciative audience here while you are in an attaching/emailing mood....

Thylacine - I am still drunk on the heady scent of the Church Oil and the last posts but (hic) surely an update to post one is soon in order?
 
OK I'll try again, following your instructions.
I have to admit that I am not sorry you can't find an eBook version of the Huss. We booksellers are going out of business fast enough as it is!
 
Keithfletcher said:
... I have to admit that I am not sorry you can't find an eBook version of the Huss. We booksellers are going out of business fast enough as it is!
Click to expand...

Thanks for those wonderful pictures, Professor! (The art of attachment is soon mastered.) The second one is unusual in: [1] being a completely different view; [2] showing a vehicle significantly different; [3] showing the London and Birmingham Steam Carriage Company "fleetname".

I take your point about e-books. From a bookseller's point of view they must be a nightmare. But from the point of view of an impoverished researcher, who could never afford to buy these rare and marvellous works ... :cry:

Actually the Huss is probably amongst the more affordable examples. If you should locate a copy, I would certainly consider buying it!

[Your "Church" oil painting now has pride of place as the frontispiece of the BSB thread. Do you think it could be by John Cooke, and have you heard of this artist before?]
 
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