Customer Reviews

American Genius: Nineteenth Century Bank Locks and Time Locks

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Beautiful is the very first word that comes to my mind when I opened up the new book American Genius by David and John Erroll. Never before has there been such a book to chronicle the history of men and their companies, that began, evolved and transformed the bank lock and time lock industries of the early America. As I began to read this book from cover to cover, the text quickly bore evidence as a living testimony to years of dedicated research. However, a book of this nature with only text could never do this historical subject justice. The beauty of the craftsmanship, detail and ingenuity of these mechanical masterpieces can truly only be appreciated through the exquisite visual images captured by renowned photographer Anne Day.

American Genius contains hundreds of beautiful, full color photographs to complement the text. Where an image might normally be worth a thousand words, Ms. Day's photos will leave you speechless.

When I think of the word "text", I'm likely reminded of a schoolbook or study guide of sorts. Yes, this book is full of history and stories, never compiled together in one place before, less the vision that began in the mind of John Erroll. But American Genius is so much more as it brings to light the obscure, the forgotten and coveted pieces of mechanical wonders that spoke of an era long gone, when a man's word was more precious than life itself. When he was proud to sign his work and stand behind it. Likely never considering those of us in the future that would ponder over the majesty and splendor of these masterpiece inventions.

Only 21 pages out of the 350 plus are without photographs or illustrations of one kind or another. Hardly a paragraph is written without a footnote. Three hundred and seventy-six annotations, presenting exhaustive documentation, further bear witness and evidence of all that has been written and assembled here. There is little room for conjecture or supposition within this volume, as the commentary exhaustively chronicles the facts of these mechanical masterpieces and their makers.

Much of what is seen and spoken of throughout this volume, is the embodiment of John Mossman's Collection. The balance of the masterpieces, covered in the book, reside in the personal collection of the author, John Erroll. The Mossman Collection is now permanently displayed at the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of New York City. Many of our readers might be familiar with the Mossman Collection, as it is expressly covered in the book Lure of the Lock. However, you will find upon first assessment, American Genius is in a class by itself. Unmatched excellence is the attribute shouted from cover to cover of this tome.

Whether relatively new or an old timer to the lock industry shall not matter, for the authors of American Genius have blended beautiful and captivating photographs, with an eloquent lexis for all to enjoy.

There are sure to be many who will acquire this book that have nothing to do with our industry. Simply because of its own grandeur, American Genius will prevail on its own, far ahead of any predecessor of similar nature. It has no rival. Others are still in the painful process of writing books to further complement the history of locks from varied perspectives. The bar has now been set extremely high.

As a consequence of this exceptionally published manuscript, there are many of us who hope to see this work advance the circulation of new, lost or forgotten information, as well as surface additional examples of these masterpieces from years ago now long gone.

John Erroll is the curator for the Mossman Collection held at the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of New York City. A retired clinical psychologist, now able to see the fruits of his many years of labor, a labor of love and passion exploding from the pages of American Genius.

My personal thanks to John, David, Anne and all the other individuals whose contributions have made American Genius much more than I ever could have imagined, and certainly more than worth waiting for.

All the royalties and proceeds from the book go to support the programs of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York. The General Society was founded in 1785 and started a free school and library in 1820. The school provides continuing education at no cost to members of the building trades so they may advance themselves in diverse fields ranging from project management to CAD/CAM for architects. The library offers public membership and focuses on the useful arts, building trades, construction and architecture.

John T. Grist, CML, CPS, CJS, CAI, GSAI
American Lock Collectors Association, Vice-President
North Georgia Security, President

Fabulous photos with information you'll not see anywhere else. If you collect vault clocks you got to have this book.

Collectors will love the beautiful pictures and extensive information about vault clocks found only in this book.

I purchased this book as a reference resource as part of a project to research U.S. bank lock patents. I have been very disapointed with the high number of errors & omissions I have found in both the text describing each lock as well as in the footnote documentation. This kind of sketchy scholarship is hard to understand because the authors are directly involved with the curation of this great lock collection & as such have access to all their history.

Book Brothers had the best price on this book and it was NEW! Thanks Bookbrothers !!