Book Harmonium

Unknown

19th century · Wood, various materials · Musical Instruments

A book organ (or bible regal) was a popular type of small pipe organ that when folded up took the shape of a large book. This instrument takes that much older idea and updates it with a free reed harmonium in the 19th century. Technical description: Softwood case in form of four leather-bound folio size books, the cover and spines stamped with gold floral designs, and labeled on the spines: Traite des Pais Bas Tom I (II, III, IV); volume one hinges upward, revealing an engraving of the Supper at Emmaus glued beneath the lid; inside, a keyboard (oak levers, ebony naturals, ivory accidentals; compass F-c2) is at the front of the compartment, separated by a partition from a leather-covered (painted pink) reservoir behind, the reservoir (compressed by two springs and bearing a safety valve on top) mounted above a single fold feeder operated by a handle extending through the lower left rear side of the case; the boxwood handle terminates in the form of a seated lion holding a shield on which is carved an adz; a wind chest at the case bottom below the keyboard bears 32 flat-sided oak "bottles," the necks pointing down and serving as windways; on the left side of each "bottle" a single free reed riveted to a metal frame glued over an opening on the side, the bottles numbered consecutively in ink, no. 20 also stamped IX; wire stickers below the keys pierce a rack and enter the windchest to depress valves; the key dip is limited by a green fabric padded batten below the key fronts, but the keys also have leather bushed front pin holes, indicating that the cutdown keys originated in another instrument; the truncated key tails are individually parchment hinged to a back rail, and are numbered consecutively on the tail ends, and many bear non-consecutive Roman numerals stamped on the sides; the entire mechanism may be lifted out of the case, which may be older.

Artist

Unknown

Date

19th century

Medium

Wood, various materials

Culture

French or German

Department

Musical Instruments

Credit line

The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889