First Steps to Bell Ringing by Samuel B. Goslin

 First Steps to Bell Ringing by Samuel B. Goslin is a short beginner's introduction to bell ringing, which is available in the public domain. Although this is a public domain book, it is still very much relevant to individuals who are at the beginning of their bell-ringing journey. This book covers the fundamentals of bell ringing, including the names of the different parts of the bell and surrounding mechanisms, an introduction to pulling the rope, ringing rounds and change calling, which is all explained for the beginner with frequent signposts throughout the book to bell ringing textbooks for the next level of learner. This book should be the starting point for everyone who is learning to ring a church bell.

I really liked this book as it broke down the art of bell ringing into the simplest of language, making the whole art much more understandable. It even covered some of the theories behind art and its history. Goslin's work is still very relevant to the modern day and provides the perfect theoretical guide for the beginner to accompany one's practice of bell ringing. In the bell-ringing world for the beginner, there is much jargon which needs to be learned, remembered and explained, and this book is good at shedding some light on some of the jargon of campanology.

There is not much I dislike about this book. The one thing I may say is that it may have been nice if Goslin went into some further details generally, but particularly on the history of bell ringing, which was very good but could have gone slightly further, and even more importantly on the science of bell ringing. Although this is a good theoretical guide, it lacked detail on the science behind this art, but that may be to ensure this guide was as simple and accessible as possible. There may be other books in the area which go into more detail on the science and mathematics of bell ringing. Furthermore, it would have been beneficial to have seen a more developed introduction to method diagrams, although this may have been beyond the scope of this book.

Altogether, I rate this book 3 stars as it is a good, short and somewhat comprehensive introduction to the art of bell ringing, which is still very relevant and would make a perfect introduction for anyone who is new to bell ringing. It fully explains all the most basic parts of the skill to accompany the practical practice, which is extremely important for anyone learning to bell ring. I would definitely recommend this book.