MAGNUS VOLK OF BRIGHTON. by Volk, Conrad

Phillimore, London, (1971), first edition. 240 pp, 8vo (8 11/16" H), hard cover in dust jacket. B&w plates. "Born in Brighton in 1851, Magnus Volk was a true pioneer of electrical engineering. While still in his early twenties he was employing a dozen or more workpeople, making a simple telegraph set which sold all over the world. In 1879, when he married, his house was the first in Brighton to have electric lighting...It was in 1883 that he built his original little railway in Great Britain. This was the start of a long struggle against both man and nature; but Magnus reacted typically to opposition, and extended the line - twice. Not content with this, he built another railway further east - a truly fantastic conception, nick-named 'Daddy-Long-Legs'. The book tells the extraordinary story of the electric motor-car he made; of the order he received for another like it from the Sultan of Turkey - surely the earliest export order for a car ever to reach this country; and of his visit to Constantinople to deliver it in person. Then there were the telephone exchanges, the electric launches, the submarine mines, the X-Ray equipment...and still the list could be lengthened. Local and family history, topography, Victoriana, engineering archives, the history of motoring and aviation - there is plenty here, in both text and illustration, for all whose interests lie expecially in these fields; while for the general reader there is the story of a whole - written simply and not without humour; a record of endeavour, of dogged tenacity in the face of relentless opposition and ill-fortune. A study, in short, of a very remarkable man." Slight bump at bottom of spine. Dust jacket has light edge wrinkling, has very light rubbing, and is price clipped. VG +/VG.