Phoenix Publications
Preserving and republishing rare, out of print or otherwise interesting Engineering information, on CD ROM, for the enthusiast.
Important Notice
Following ongoing family illness 'Phoenix' has been out of action for some while and it has not been possible to update the webpages until now (Dec.2011), if this has inconvenienced anyone interested in a publication, please accept our sincere apologies.
As a result of this, activity will continue when I am able, but replies may be sporadic, initial contact should be to the email address
+Enquiries-@+phoenix+books+.-org+
Please remove the plus and minus signs - over our 3 years of inactivity the previous undoctored email address had been recognised and 'harvested' - accumulating 35000 spam emails.
During the search for the line engravings illustrating the catalogues of steam engine manufacturers and contemporary books on the subject it has become apparent that much of our earlier printed engineering heritage is gradually becoming less and less available to the enthusiasts of today, much was just destroyed when it became obsolete, that which has survived is either hidden in private or 'public' collections, largely inaccessible except to academics or those with time on their hands. The material in the public domain is steadily increasing in cost and the average enthusiast can rarely afford the few originals still to be found or the time to make appointments at libraries and other collections during the working day.
Add to this the fact that century plus old literature is now darkening or simply crumbling away, even those who do have the originals may be less inclined to browse themselves or loan them to others - particularly to youngsters - because of their investment value alone.
Worse than the natural wastage, some libraries are now deliberately pulping complete sets of periodicals such as 'Engineering' and 'The Engineer' - any such institution which would care to donate surplus editions here for posterity would be welcome to.
The mission of Phoenix Publications is to save for the future and share with a wider audience some of these originals, through the medium of scanning and saving in facsimile using the Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (.pdf), a free of charge viewer for which may be downloaded from Adobe's website or is included on the CD ROM, making the information more freely available and preserving it for the use and enjoyment of future generations.
The following CD ROM's are currently available, scanned mainly at 300 dpi and stored in portable document format they come with 16 or 32 bit browsers for the convenience of those who do not already have a suitable reader. The CD's are fully print enabled so that you can print anything from a single page to the complete book, for your own use.
While some restoration has been done to the images, we make no pretensions that these equate with the originals in all the fine detail of the engravings, there are pages where 'warts and all' defects of the original have been left, there is a compromise between scanning a century old book 'perfectly' without causing damage to it or its binding so there may be pages that are not absolutely square or show the evidence of age, use, dampness and occasionally damaged paper or text. The text of these has not been recognised to make it searchable as with such old typefaces the program can take 'liberties' and substitute other fonts and the images need to be scanned in greyscale not black and white so do not print as clearly..
However, if you do not have access to the originals, the information and illustrations are well worth the occasional compromise regarding image quality The opportunity to have these books on your desktop, available to browse when it is convenient to you should not be missed.
J.E. Bourne's 'A Catechism of the Steam Engine'
is a classic Victorian work, the title page tells all.
Scanned from the 12th Edition published in the UK in 1868. It covers the history of Steam power to the date of publication, the book runs to 550 pages, many illustrated by engravings, these have been scanned as pairs of pages to preserve the landscape aspect . The Index and a few sample pages follow, the image size and quality is representative of that used on the CD ROM but may not show to best effect on some web browsers, in which case save and view the .gif files with a suitable graphics program such as the excellent shareware Paint Shop Pro.
Click here to view some sample pages.
Available on CD ROM at £15.00 including UK postage
In preparation, 'A Treatise on the Steam Engine' published by the Artizan Club in 1852 and edited by John Bourne, 250 pages, 349 engravings and 33 exquisite lithographic plates - the fore runner to 'A Catechism' but based on earlier Victorian practice.
Victorian Steam Engine Manufacturers Trade Catalogues
Volume 1
In facsimile, complete trade catalogues from Riches and Watts - Engineers of Dukes Palace Ironworks - Norwich - such treasures as this (reduced resolution) page from the 1859 catalogue - steam engines, milling and grinding machinery, agricultural machines and numerous other things ! (Years covered 1859, 1871, 1875, 1877 & 1893) plus details of their Patents on mills and horse rakes.
With extracts from Catalogue of Holmes & Sons Ltd - Prospect Place - Norwich
200 pages of Victorian treasures for those so inclined.
Available on CD ROM at £15.00 including UK postage
Tangye Brothers & Holman - Catalogue 1876
This CD ROM comprises some 330 facsimile pages from their 1876 second edition catalogue, which was most generously loaned for the purpose by Tangye who are still very much in business as part of Allspeeds Ltd. / GEI.
The list of section headings above gives an indication of the bewildering array of mid Victorian engineering items depicted inside, profusely illustrated by engravings (mainly by Mr HARE) it advertises sufficient parts and machinery to both build and then equip a factory, solely from Tangyes products.
Click here to see a few sample illustrations (at reduced resolution to save bandwidth) of a rail mounted steam crane, Willans Patent three cylinder single acting enclosed portable engine, a multibladed vertical tree planking frame saw, a corn mill and CORNUBIA, the firms first foray into the steam carriage market.
Pages are approximately letter size and scanned singly
By way of contrast a current Tangye and Blake catalogue are also included - the Blake patent hydraulic water lifting ram is still in production a century and a quarter after the advertisment for it in the first catalogue !
Available on CD ROM at £15.00 including UK postage
Tangyes Limited Drawing Register 1
Now this one is for the dedicated enthusiast only, it is dry, handwritten and there is no story or even pictures to lighten it!
On the 2nd of January 1882 somebody in Tangyes Drawing Office started a new leatherbound foolscap handwritten drawings register, noting that drawings before 7676 were now to be found in register 1A. some 7961 numbers and 494 pages later, on August 1st 1890 the last entry was made for drawing 15637. The register notes drawing number, date, order number if applicable and a brief description of the drawing details.
A rare view behind the scenes of one of the worlds most famous engineering companies at their peak - a fascinating insight into the breadth of their operations and may be helpful to those trying to date Tangye products from the period. Again - many thanks are due to Tangye Allspeeds for the kind loan of their original.
This is a sample page - warts and all - try saving the .gif file and viewing it though an image viewer for best effect.
Some of the early Tangye drawings are thought to survive in the care of Birmingham Museums.
Available on CD ROM at £15.00 including UK postage
Tangyes Limited - Catalogues 1891
This CD ROM comprises some 770 facsimile pages from two of the three 1891 editions of TANGYES catalogues, one for Steam Engines and Boilers, the other for Steam Pumping and Hydraulic Equipment. Typically there is an engraving on the left page and a description on the right. Pages are approximately A4 size and scanned singly.
Tangyes built a wide variety of equipment which was exported world wide and much still survives. These catalogues also include technical information, engineering data, prices and the fascinating single word telegraphic code used to communicate using a minimum of wording.
Here are a some sample pages from the Tangye catalogues to enjoy, again they probably do not display at their best on a web browser - try saving the .gifs and then viewing them with a graphics program.
Available on CD ROM at £15.00 including UK postage
The Tangye Special Edition CD ROM
The above three titles on one CD ROM - 1600 pages packed with Victorian Engineering
Available on CD ROM at £30.00 including UK postage
'One and All'
190 pages with a few engravings, a first hand account of the Tangye brothers humble beginings in Illogan, Cornwall, their move to Birmingham, establishment of their workshop, how the great Isambard Kingdom Brunel came to them for hydraulic jacks able to push his stranded leviathan Great Eastern into the water - leading to the slogan "Tangyes launched the great Eastern and the Great Eastern launched Tangyes", establishment of 'Cornwall works in Smethwick and their rise to a world class business based on humane treatment of their workforce, excellence of their products and their eventuall position as leading citizens of Birmingham and their various civic and philanthropic acts up to 1889. Written in a factual and non self congratulatory style as can be expected from a life-long member of the Society of Friends (or Quakers)
Available on CD ROM at £15.00 including UK postage
A Hundred Years of Engineering Craftsmanship
Building on 'One and All' this limited edition book was written for their Centenary ,covered the firms history from 1857 to 1957 it carries a combination of engravings and coloured photographic plates among its 109 pages. Describing the establishment during the 19th and growth during the 20th Century, their contributions during two World Wars up to the post WW2 period.
Described by one as 'rare as rocking horse droppings' this is an opportunity to acquire a more recent piece of our Engineering history which both Phoenix Publications and Tangyes are pleased to be able to offer.
Available on CD ROM at £15.00 including UK postage
'Water Supply to Estates and Villages' - Merryweather & Sons
The London 'Water Engineers' as they describe themselves were famed for their fire control equipment but also made commercial and domestic water and power supply equipment. this fascinating little catalogue was their 8th edition and runs to 60 pages with many nice engravings by George Swain and some distinctly 'muddy' photographs. Not dated, it looks to be from the early part of the 20th Century and features pumps driven by horsegear, waterwheel, windmill, steam, oil engine and electricity - including their novel 'Hatfield' delta shaped 3 cylinder pump pictured below and some electrical generating equipment.
A few of the engravings have been added at the end of the file at higher resolution
Available on CD ROM at £12.50 including UK postage
Other potential titles are :-
'Water Supply' by John Blakes - hydraulic rams and other water supply products between 1900 and 1920 these volumes describe water supply options by hydram, water wheel or oil engine, 75, 100 & 130 pages - compares with Merryweather and will in all probability be on the same CD.
'Engraved in our hearts' a personal collation of favourite engravings of stationary steam, hot air and internal combustion engines, portables, traction engines but also brickmaking, farming and woodworking machinery - don't hold your breath on this one but it should feature at least 500 fine quality engravings
Other CD ROMS with Steam / Engineering content - particularly the electronic editions of the late Ronald H Clark's books once available from Les Rix at Engineering Information Services may be available, please contact by email.
Ronald's home produced Christmas cards were much enjoyed by their recipients, with an illustration of some mechanical oddity or other arcane eccentricity and appropriate verses, often to the metre of a Gilbert & Sullivan 'original' and generally containing a pun or two, often with teasing or Latin references.
A nicely illustrated collation of these cards commencing in the 1940's was published in 1993 under the title 'Odd Odes, Christmas Verses of an Engineer' - I have a few printed copies of these available for sale at £5.00 each plus post and packing (proceeds from these in aid of engine restoration).
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