"Built Like A Battleship"

Regret now just out of print......

Charting the rise and fall of one of the U.Ks most successful, wireless component, magnetic tape recorder and Hi-Fi manufacturers. The publication aims to be the definitive reference on the company and its subsidiaries. Containing 221 pages and over 200 photographs and illustrations, some rare and unseen for over seventy years. Drawing on many hours of interviews with former employees and extensive research. This is one publication that no serious collector can afford to be without. The initial print run was limited to 500 copies only.

A second edition of the book is planned in the near future. If you would like to reserve a copy, please contact me via my contact page here and I will add you to my mailing list.

Forward to the book

"Terry Martini, a well known and respected collector and expert in sound recording techniques and equipment, has within this book, captured a complete history, taking you on a chronological journey through the events and products of a company, which survived the decimation of the British manufacturing industry whilst continuing to use the highest mechanical and electronic standards without compromise.

A very special and thoroughly British company, that from its earliest inception helped shape the public interest in wireless - the newest form of entertainment in the early 20th Century, targeting its products within the home construction market and making the proposition of building and operating a quality receiver, a reality.

Through diversity of business, war time research work and capitalisation of the post war public interest in high fidelity sound recording and reproduction, grew from very modest roots to a company respected world wide for its broadcast quality equipment.

I congratulate Terry on the production of this fascinating book and eagerly await the next".

Mike Barker, Chairman, British Vintage Wireless Society

Ken Kesslers review of the publication from the May 2008 issue of Hi-Fi News

At Howes' fair I also learned of Built Like A Battleship! A History of the Ferrograph Company. This is Terry Martini's labour of love, a 221 page chronicle of what was probably Great Britain's best-ever line of tape recorders.

Terry is a member of the British Vintage Wireless Society, an electronics engineer who has specialised in early communications, and his passion for this once proud British institution is evident. Fortunately, Martini is able to keep it at bay when necessary, so the decline of the company is not a whitewash. If anything this book is more than a detailed study of a manufacturer now slipping out of our collective memory; it’s a case history that illustrates this country’s decline as a manufacturing base.

Martini deserves kudos for managing to tell the story of a manufacturer that has been effectively defunct (in audio, that is) for a quarter of a century; the name now lives on in electronic signage displays. As with all good one-make histories, you also learn about the related manufacturers. In this case, there is an intriguing chapter on NEAL, whose cassette recorders are still used by the police for interviews.

you can download the original Hi-Fi News review here