The excerpts below are taken from a lengthy announcement at
http://www.antiquorum.com/html/press/singingbirds.htm
The authors, who operate a restoration firm in Paris, are recognized
experts in this area and regularly contribute historical and technical
articles to "Musiques Mecaniques Vivantes", the journal of the French
mechanical music society. They gave a presentation on 'bird boxes'
at the MBSI 1998 Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.
A previous book by M. Bailly is "The Golden Age of Automata", and
a few years ago he produced a video entitled "Automata, Mechanical
Marvels of the 20th Century" with English narration. He also is
president of the Association des Amis des Automates, Poupees et
Jouets anciens.
"Flights of Fancy: Mechanical Singing Birds", by Sharon and
Christian Bailly, is a 380-page hard-cover color volume, printed
in a bilingual French/English edition. ...
"An indispensable reference work for specialists and collectors,
it is also an exceptionally beautiful book whose numerous color
photographs of rare and important singing bird pieces -- it includes
over 400 color and over 100 black and white illustrations...
"As another 'first', the book is accompanied by a CD-ROM (for both PC
and Mac) containing visually attractive overviews of the history of
mechanical singing birds, with a special animated technical section
presenting and explaining mechanisms in motion. The crowning touch
is a fabulous "gallery" of singing birds which give a very special
kind of "private performance" on the reader's computer screen, as
films and recordings of some of the world's most extraordinary
singing bird pieces are seen and heard."
"Flights of Fancy: Mechanical Singing Birds", by Sharon and Christian
Bailly, 380 pages, hard-cover; (C) 2001 Antiquorum Editions, Geneva,
Switzerland. 2001 Edition - ISBN 2-940019-28-2
Retail price: SFr. 300
Postage & handling per book:
Switzerland: SFr. 7
Europe: SFr. 35
Overseas: SFr. 50
The total cost for the book plus shipment overseas is 350 Swiss
francs; at today's bank exchange rate that's equal to 240.92 euros
or 212.30 US dollars.
Robbie Rhodes
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