Books in the Horological Society of New York’s Jost Bürgi Research Library preserve printed ownership labels incorporating watchmaking imagery. The collection, largely donated by Fortunat Mueller-Maerki, includes secondhand volumes bearing earlier owners’ marks. One illustrated bookplate features a watchmaker’s lathe and an escape wheel alongside symbols of other personal interests.
Daily Digest
The Day in Watchmaking
The ownership marks preserved in the Horological Society of New York’s Jost Bürgi Research Library bring the provenance of horological books into focus. Its collection, largely donated by Fortunat Mueller-Maerki, includes secondhand volumes that retain printed labels from earlier owners. These bookplates offer traces of the people through whose hands the books passed, with watchmaking imagery forming part of that record. One illustrated example places a watchmaker’s lathe and an escape wheel alongside symbols of other personal interests. The combination makes the label both an ownership mark and a small expression of its owner’s interests. Here, the historical detail lies not only in a book’s contents, but also in the printed marks that remain inside it.