Inside the newly expanded HSNY Library , now called the Jost Bürgi Research Library .
LIBRARY TIME
Michael Thompson Editor-in-Chief | mike @ isochronmedia . com
A s we prepare this Fall issue for dissemination digitally and in print , I ’ ve gotten word that the Horological Society of New York ( HSNY ) has expanded its library in Midtown Manhattan .
Now called the Jost Bürgi Research Library , it is now among the largest collections of modern and rare horological texts , watchmaking books and horological items anywhere in the world .
Much of the most recent expansion is the result of a large donation from a private collection by the Librarian Emeritus of the HSNY , Fortunat Meuller-Maerki , who amassed one of the largest horological libraries in private hands .
Meuller-Maerki spent thirty years traveling the world and purchasing horological material including books , periodicals , audiovisual materials , rare ephemera and much more , according to the organization .
It was Mueller-Maerki who renamed the expanded library after Jost Bürgi , an innovative Swiss clockmaker .
The new library now boasts 2,000 square-feet with 800 linear feet of custom-built shelf space . HSNY reports that within the collection you ’ ll find a rare books with first editions and timekeeping treasures dating to 1652 .
More specifically , you ’ ll find more than 7,735 antiquarian and modern books on horology , over 4,675 auction sales and trade catalogs , an extensive collection of horological periodicals
( including early issues of iW ), 6,100 academic and technical articles , 2,700 pieces of ephemera , including brochures , advertising materials , posters and 1,161 vintage postcards .
In short , the new library has everything an avid iW reader could need to learn more about timekeeping in all its forms over the centuries .
Though we at iW have only been publishing for about three decades , we feel kinship with any source of information about our favorite topic .
We urge any reader with interest in any aspect of watchmaking to take full advantage of the Jost Bürgi Research Library , which HSNY opens to the public Monday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm . Appointments are encouraged for research and can be made online at the HSNY website . The organization also offers an online research library .
Happy reading !
6 | INTERNATIONAL WRISTWATCH | FALL 2022