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قراءة كتاب The History of Coaches
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THE
HISTORY OF COACHES
BY
G. A. T H R U P P.
Drawn with a team of little atomies,
Her Waggon spokes made of long spinners’ legs;
Her Chariot is an empty hazel-nut,
Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub,
Time out o’ mind the Fairies’ Coachmakers.”
Romeo and Juliet, Act I. Scene 4
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.
LONDON:
KERBY & ENDEAN, 190 OXFORD STREET.
NEW YORK: THE “HUB” PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1877.
LONDON:
KERBY & ENDEAN, 190 OXFORD STREET,
Printers and Publishers.
PREFACE.
Italian Proverb.
IN the spring of 1876 I was requested by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce to prepare a series of Lectures upon Coachbuilding.
I chose as my subject the History of that Art, as likely to be more interesting than a merely technical description of the method of constructing vehicles.
I was desirous of enlisting the sympathies of the Public in general in an Art so important to the requirements of the age, as well as of calling the attention of the artisans of our trade to the principles which govern the construction of Carriages.
I need hardly add that I received from the Society of Arts all the assistance in its power towards composing the substance of the Lectures, and also in the preparation of the numerous diagrams by which they were illustrated; they further aided in procuring a very large attendance of artisans, employers, and others interested in Coachbuilding, at the time of my delivering the lectures in November and December last, in their great room at John Street, Adelphi.
It is deemed desirable that these Lectures should be re-issued in their present form.
I found it very difficult to arrive at the shape of the vehicles used by our forefathers on account of the absence of any connected history, and also from the very vague descriptions contained in books on the subject, but which were not always written for technical purposes.
It was not therefore without considerable search in books and examination of paintings and old engravings, that I could at all ascertain the shapes of the earlier Coaches, and of course both my time and opportunities were limited to a few months.
I have little doubt that there remain rich mines of information unsearched by me, because unknown. I shall, however, be glad to receive any information that will enlarge our present knowledge.
There may be yet in England, or abroad, some ancient Carriages which deserve to be described and photographed before they perish; for Carriages are too bulky to be preserved in any quantity in national museums.
Scarce books and prints, too, may exist in many libraries, and a list might be made of them; and a record is desirable also of those students of the Art of Coachbuilding who made their mark in the world and have passed away.
Any communication will be thankfully received and kept in an accessible place, to assist any future writer who may have the time to prepare a more complete record than I of the History of Coachbuilding.
G. A. THRUPP.
269 Oxford Street,
April, 1877.
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER I. | |
|---|---|
| PAGE | |
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Early Vehicles—Sledges—Solid Wheels—Egyptian Chariots—Early Vehicles Always had Two Horses—King Solomon’s Wedding Chariot—An Egyptian Mummy Wheel—Grecian Chariots—Vehicles of Ancient Rome—Scythian and Persian Cars—Funeral Car of Alexander the Great—War Chariot of Ancient Britain—Roman Military Roads—Wheels Found at Pompeii—Later Vehicles of the Roman Empire—Ancient Roman Dray—Carriages of Hindostan—A Carriage of Ancient Hungary—Turkish Carriages—Welsh and Irish Cars—Bristol Coburg |
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| CHAPTER II. | |
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Whirlicote of the Middle Ages—Charettes—Cars of the Middle Ages—Revival of Carriages—The First Coaches—The German Waggon—Ancient Saxon Waggon—The Horse Litter—The Old Coaches at Coburg—Early Italian Coaches—Coach of Queen Elizabeth—Coach of Charles I.—Coach of Henri Quatre—Time of Louis XIV.—The Brouette and Steel Springs—The Berlin—Old Coaches at Vienna—Horse Litter at the Imperial Mews—Utility of Steel Springs—Mr Samuel Pepys’ Diary—Sedan Chairs—Coachbuilding in 1770—Chariot à l’Anglaise—Encyclopædia on Coachbuilding—Cabriolets—Light Chariots—The Darnley Chariot |
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| CHAPTER III. STATE COACHES. |
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A Coach of Silver—Lord Castlemaine’s Coach—Spanish Ambassador’s Coach—Ancient Spanish Coach—Austrian State Coach—State Funeral Coach at Vienna—State Coach of England—City State Coach |
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| CHAPTER IV. CARRIAGES FROM 1790 TO 1876. | |