Books : review : "Robert Willis and the foundation of architectural history"

Reviews "Robert Willis and the foundation of architectural history," by Alexandrina Buchanan (Boydell Press, 2013). As this intriguing new book reveals, Willis immediately set himself to work making observations of the device at a distance, by which he was able to approximate measurements and devise a crude reconstruction. His initial skepticism was based on his observation that the winding of the handle, which generated the machine's power, rarely corresponded to the amount of work undertakenwith one turn sometimes equating to as many as 63 moves! Willis's in-depth knowledge of clockwork assured him that this was impossible. He was convinced that a person occupied the cupboard space behind which the automaton sat, moving its arm to a designated position when prompted. [Revised Publication Abstract]