Perhaps this website has begun to have an impact on the near invisibility of the once-popular institution of the Victorian Turkish bath!

Or perhaps not?

Well, whatever.

In any event, a warm welcome must surely be given to the first book to be published on the design of the Turkish bath for nearly ninety years. And even if a closer examination shows that this is a facsimile reprint in paperback of the well-known J J Cosgrove work first published in 1913, its publication is still a remarkable event.

This North American work, published 23 years after Robert Owen Allsop's The Turkish bath (often referred to on this site), is more technical than the British book. But the two well complement each other: Allsop was an architect and his emphasis was on the design, furnishing, and fitting of the Turkish bath; Cosgrove was a sanitary engineer whose emphasis was on the heating and plumbing aspects. But each produced a volume which was, in its author's view, a comprehensive treatment.

The book runs to nearly 200 pages and includes the original illustrations which might, perhaps, have been reproduced with more clarity. There are also numerous diagrams and tables, and even some questions and calculations, together with worked solutions.

It would be fascinating to know which market Books for Business, the New York and Hong Kong publishers, are aiming the reprint at. The price, too high even to contemplate here in print, will tend to ensure that the book will, almost without exception, be purchased by libraries.

We wish the book well, and would love to hear from those whose studies or research make it an important source of relevant information.

This page revised 20 June 2010