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Brunel and the watchmakers

Press release issued: 19 October 2007

Three important letters which illuminate the cross-Channel friendship of two of the most remarkable families of the early nineteenth century – the Brunels and the Breguets – have been acquired by the University of Bristol Library’s Brunel Collection.

Three important letters which illuminate the cross-Channel friendship of two of the most remarkable families of the early nineteenth century – the Brunels and the Breguets – have been acquired by the University of Bristol Library’s Brunel Collection.

The letters were written by Marc Isambard Brunel to Abraham Louis Breguet and his son Louis Antoine Breguet, the most distinguished watchmakers of their day whose workshop on the Quai de l’Horloge in the heart of old Paris was a magnet to the young Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The letters, which date from 1814, 1820 and 1821, provide an engaging and unofficial portrait of the Brunel family.

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