I recently came across this book. If you love mechanical music and
history, you'll find it fascinating!

In 1598, London merchants paid for a gift from Queen Elizabeth to
the Sultan of Turkey. It was a musical clock with jewel-encrusted
moving figures and an automatic organ.

Thomas Dallam built the organ and delivered it by ship to the Sultan
in Constantinople in 1599. He published a diary of his journey. This
fairly recent book is a modern prose translation of that diary.

Though only about 20% is about the organ, it's still a captivating
read. You can get it on Kindle, as a hardcover, or as an e-book.

Phil Dayson
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
pdayson@gmail.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]

[ "An engraving of a drawing of the instruments appeared along
[ with a lengthy description from the contract, specifying that
[ the organ would stand fourteen feet high and including notes
[ on how it would function."
[
[ Ref. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/704650 
[ The Sultan's Organ: The Epic Voyage of Thomas Dallam and His
[ Extraordinary Musical Instrument to Constantinople in 1599
[ and His Time in the Palace and Harem of the Ottoman Sultan;
[ by Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy; London: Propolis Books, 2017.
[ 198 pp.; Paper $14.38; ISBN 9780992946043
[ -- Robbie