publications

Odyssey Log

Text Box: CONTACT For further information regarding lectures or exhibitions please e-mail: Andrew Lound odyssey@dial.pipex.com

Text Box: Odyssey DL Publications will be producing a number of books to tie in with the Dramatic Lectures and to support new authors. Details of books available will appear on this page.

Text Box: LUNATICK ASTRONOMY Research into the Astronomical Activities of the Lunar Society 2nd Edition By Andrew P. B. Lound The Lunar Society was one of the most influential gatherings of intellectuals in the eighteenth century. The group of friends met informally every month on a Monday evening closest to the full Moon. It is this singular astronomical connection from which the group of friends developed their collective noun – although they often referred to themselves as the ‘Lunaticks’. Matthew Boulton was the prime mover behind the moonlit gathering and most people today know him as the great manufacturer of Birmingham and the partner of James Watt. His friend and fellow Lunatick James Keir once observed that electricity and astronomy were at one time among Matthew Boulton’s favourite amusements. The question for the author with an interest in astronomy living only a few miles from Boulton’s home was just how much of an interest in astronomy did Boulton and the other Lunar Society members have? The book is an account of Andrew Lound’s research into Matthew Boulton’s and his friends’ interests in astronomy discovering Matthew Boulton’s design for an astronomical observatory as well as snippets of information on one of his favourite amusements. The write-up of the research has been produced on the urging of several experts in astronomy history and Professor Carl Chinn of the University of Birmingham, in order to assist those with an interest in the Lunar Society and to give wider public awareness of Matthew Boulton’s astronomical interests. This publication contains additional material that is aimed at a wider audience, placing together for the first time a complete ready reference to the Lunar Society’s astronomical interests. Publishing date: 30th June 2009 Soft back 110 pages 52 B&W illustrations ISBN 978-0-9561111-1-1 £10 plus P & P from the author Or Amazon.com or Waterstone’s Bookstores

Text Box: LIFE IN THE BALANCE The Life and work of William E. Hipkins Birmingham’s Titanic Victim By Andrew P.B. Lound William Hipkins was born into a Birmingham brassfounding family in 1857. He developed the family business and was head hunted to run J & E Wright Ropemakers and then to become the first external Managing Director of the famous scalemakers W & T Avery Limted. Hipkins revolutionized Averys introducing modern industrial methods. He moved the old firm to the famous Soho Foundry where he developed his ideas. Hipkins’ connections with the business community of Birmingham were extensive and he was a supporter of Joseph Chamberlain’s Protectionist policies. Hipkins set up a subsidiary company in Milwaukee USA and it was while travelling to this plant that he perished in the Titanic disaster. The book is a culmination of over 20 years research into the life of a man who had been forgotten in Birmingham, yet his ideas and methods have been copied the world over. Due to be released in 2010