Antique Locks and Keys - by Ulf Weissenberger (Hardcover)

About the Book

"For over 25 years the author, Ulf Weissenberger, has been collecting and restoring antique locks and keys. This magnificent book is based on his experience and his extensive and impressive collection. This is the largest, most detailed and most beautiful book on antique locks we have ever seen. From the Roman period and even earlier, up through the nineteenth century, the author explores, with great attention to detail, a wide variety of locks and their keys which were used for various types of chests, doors, cabinets, and more. Readers will greatly appreciate that the internal mechanisms for most of the locks are shown in crisp, high resolution photos. The measurements of each lock are provided as are their (sometimes estimated) dates of manufacture, and their provenance when known. This book will be treasured by lock collectors, locksmiths, metal-artists, art historians, and those interested in the mechanical workings of antique locks. Hardcover, 300 pages, 850 full color photos, 12-1/4" x 9-1/4", ISBN 9780997979893"--

Book Synopsis

This is the most beautiful, complete, and largest book on antique locks and keys ever published. Not only are there over one-thousand stunning high-resolution photos of European locks and keys from Roman times through the Industrial Revolution, all with dates, dimensions, and provenance, but the detailed photos and the author's notes also allow us to examine and understand the workings of the locks' internal mechanisms.

This is a book that every lock and key collector, locksmith, blacksmith who makes locks, and architectural restorer, will want to own.

Author Ulf Weissenberger's tour de force covers the history of locks and keys, how their mechanisms developed over the centuries, and how each major art period affected their shape and decoration.

The author also presents his personal ideas on the restoration of antique locks and keys.

Ulf Weissenberger has been collecting and restoring with passion and attention to detail for over 35 years. In this book he gives us impressive insights into almost 5000 years of cultural, technological, and artistic history and, almost incidentally, answers the question of how naturally locks and keys have been part of our lives for millennia.

Review Quotes

"(This book is) a comprehensive and ground-breaking study. (It) is an especially and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, community, college, and university library, Antiques & Collectibles collections, and supplemental Historic Architecture curriculum studies lists." - Jack Mason, The Midwest Book Review

--Midwest Book Review