Henry Willis Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 The Editor of 'The Organ' and 'Musical Opinion' has drawn to my attention a forthcoming book on the history of the Brindley firm, from 1854 - 1939 by Bryan Hughes (author of 'The Schulze Dynasty): the manuscript is edited and awaiting publication for which advance subscriptions are being sought to assist with the considerable costs of publication. The finished book will amount to some 200 pages, containing over 150 photographs and will be available to subscribers at the cost of £25 per copy. Those interested should contact: Robert Matthew-Walker, 1, Exford Road, London SE12 9HD Tel: 0208 857 1582 email: theorgan@hotmail.co.uk I have subscribed to four copies and hope that others might also see this as an interesting addition to their libraries! David Wyld HENRY WILLIS & SONS LTD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Owen Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Good news indeed. Brindley was a very good organ builder though sadly little of his work remains in original condition. It will be good to learn more about him and his instruments and I will order a copy. Thank you, David, for notifying us and thank you too for showing members of The Organ Club over your factory last week. We greatly enjoyed it and it was good to meet you. Martin Owen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Pykett Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 This puts me in mind of Hopkins and Rimbault's Victorian treatise ('The Organ - its History and Construction') which also was published wholly or in part by public subscription. A list of subscribers is appended which makes interesting reading today, and some contemporary organ builders were among them. It would be a nice touch if this might be done with the volume under discussion here. CEP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Willis Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Indeed - what a good idea! The same thing happened with the Hill (casework) books of course and we still have the six 'subscription copies' here at the Works. As you say, the list of subscribers is extremely interesting. I have spoken to Mr. Matthew-Walker and he also thinks ot a marvellous suggestion - it will be done! So there we are, anyone subscribing to this tome will have their name recorded for posterity: not bad for 25 Quid! I do hope that the take-up for this will be high - all too often the huge effort to put such a book together is rewarded by a pathetically low sales record which, of course, puts publishers off the idea of doing anything similar in the future. David Wyld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Newnham Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Hi I wondered what the delay was. I've got the author's book on the Shultz firm - interesting reading. The B&F book was first advertised quite a while back in "The Organ". I'll have to see about subscribing. Thanks for the "heads up" on this one David. Every Blessing Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Pykett Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Going off-topic a bit (a failing of mine), my copy of Hopkins & Rimbault is the 2nd edition of 1870, presented to me as a birthday present by my dear wife a few years ago. VERY difficult to get hold of and thus greatly treasured! I 'm not sure whether the list of subscribers refers to this or the first edition of 1855. Anyway, some of the luminaries mentioned in it are: ORGAN BUILDERS Bryceson Bros Conacher & co J W Goundry Gray & Davison W Johnson (Wednesbury) T C Lewis Nicholson & Son (Walsall) G Staniland (Wallingford) (No mention of Walker, Willis, Hill, ... ?) ORGANISTS Lots of these, including: W T Best L G Hayne (Eton College and inventor of 'Hayne's tubs') In fact, too many to mention any more. MISCELLANEOUS Various Deans & Chapters including Canterbury and Chester Quite a few academics identified by their title of 'Professor' So, all in all, quite a historical snapshot in itself quite independent of the rest of the book. CEP Incidentally, my book is inscribed as the property of a son of an important Manchester mill owner and dated 1871. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Bradley Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 That's interesting Colin. Googling I came across this web page that purports to list all the subscribers shown in the back of the first edition (1855): http://www.duresme.org.uk/BIOS/h&r_subs.htm This list does include Willis, Hill ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basdav Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 There are many Organ Builders listed that I have never heard of!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Pykett Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 I think James Bradley's post (#7) resolves my uncertainty whether the list in my version of the book (the 2nd edition) was for it or for the first edition. On the basis of James's post it seems each edition probably had its own subscribers. Interesting. (With tongue in cheek, might it also mean that the 'missing' organ builders in the 2nd edition such as Willis, Hill, etc, thought it wasn't worth buying that time round?!). Thanks James. CEP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Willis Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 On 11/5/2014 at 15:36, Henry Willis said: The Editor of 'The Organ' and 'Musical Opinion' has drawn to my attention a forthcoming book on the history of the Brindley firm, from 1854 - 1939 by Bryan Hughes (author of 'The Schulze Dynasty): the manuscript is edited and awaiting publication for which advance subscriptions are being sought to assist with the considerable costs of publication. The finished book will amount to some 200 pages, containing over 150 photographs and will be available to subscribers at the cost of £25 per copy. Those interested should contact: Robert Matthew-Walker, 1, Exford Road, London SE12 9HD Tel: 0208 857 1582 email: theorgan@hotmail.co.uk I have subscribed to four copies and hope that others might also see this as an interesting addition to their libraries! Members might remember the above posting some time ago and wondered why nothing more has been heard - I have now received the following from Robert Matthew-Walker, which tells all! Dear David: Long time no contact! You may remember our connections about three years ago concerning the publication of a book on the Brindley company organs by Bryan Hughes. Through your excellent suggestion and your assistance through the Mander Forum we announced a Subscribers' Page and we obtained a goodly number of subscribers - but......! I don't know if you are aware that in March 2015 we were the subject of a horrendous cyber attack on our computers and computerised records which obliterated all information stored on them: the corrected text of the book, all illustrations and original photographs - and the names and addresses of about 40 of the earlier subscribers at the time were lost. All attempts at restoration of these files were not wholly successful, but it has proved possible to restore the original text and, by some additional miracles, the illustrations - but not the subscribers! Through renewed appeals, we believe we have identified as many as humanly possible, given the circumstances, but as many of the original names and details of the first subscribers came through your kind offer to help publicise the book on the Mander Forum before the cyber attack, I am wondering if you would be so kind as to make a renewed appeal on our behalf, in order that those organ-lovers who readily responded to the original appeal and whose details are now lost in cyberspace might be able to let us have their details. After very many trials and tribulations, the book is now in the final stages of preparation before printing: it will amount to around 370 pages, with very many illustrations published for the first time. It will be softback, of a size between A5 and A4. The published price is £40, but for pre-publication subscribers it will be £25 including postage - a considerable bargain, as I hope you will agree. Thanks for your kind co=operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Pykett Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 That's very sad and I genuinely sympathise with the publishers and all others who have been affected. However it does seem to illustrate the importance of maintaining regular backups on a physically separate medium, i.e. one which is physically removed from the main computer immediately after each backup has been completed, as opposed to a second HDD say, which is just as vulnerable to attack as the main disc would be. I know I'll probably be berated for being smug and wise after the event for having preached the above homily, but I had an exactly similar problem some while ago in which I was the unhappy victim of an attack which my antivirus did not trap. Fortunately the backup protocol described above was in use. After each session on Word or whatever, a USB flash drive was inserted, the backup copy on it was updated, and the drive was then physically removed again. Everything of any value to me on the machine had been backed up in this way. So all I had to do was to reinstall Windows and then recover everything else from several memory sticks - it took a couple of hours or so and all I had lost were some trivial bits and pieces which I hadn't bothered to back up. It's boring and a real pain in the proverbial to do it, but in this case it worked a treat and with hindsight it was obviously worthwhile. Another method is to use only a totally offline machine for doing your most important work, preferably in addition to the protocol just described. I do this as well, having an icon on the desktop from which I can switch the internet port (wi-fi or ethernet) on and off. There's actually no need for me to have it 'always on' most of the time, and frankly it's just asking for trouble if it is allowed to be. And for belt-and-suspenders protection, I also scan the flash drives themselves from time to time as well - it only takes a few seconds. I certainly scanned them on another machine before using them as part of the major system re-install described above. As I said, forgive the sermon. It also goes without saying that I hope the book will now be a complete success, and thank you David for updating us. CEP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipmgwright Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 As one of the original supporters of Brindley,I emailed address and phoned the last number just now.. but to no avail...may I suggest new contact details be issued which can respond ..this will encourage many to subscribe. a worthwhile venture plagued by a horrendous birth! philipmgwright Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Willis Posted October 4, 2017 Author Share Posted October 4, 2017 Oh dear - I replied to Robert Matthew-Walker on what I believe to be a current email address some days ago and it hasn't bounced - that is theorgan@hotmail.co.uk As to a telephone number, I'll see what I can find out. David Wyld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipmgwright Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Sorry undeliverable again just now! lookingforward to new contact details thanks philipmgwright Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Willis Posted October 13, 2017 Author Share Posted October 13, 2017 I've now exchanged a further two emails with Robert Matthew-Walker, on the address supplied: so I don't really understand why your attempts won't go through? The telephone number is still 0208 857 1582 and I just spoke to him on that number. DW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipmgwright Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Thanks for your further confirmation. I have now succeeded in contacting Robert and confirmed my order. Hopefull many others will do likewise. philipmgwright Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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