James Drake's 'Drake's Road Book of the Grand Junction Railway from Birmingham to Liverpool and Manchester' is a comprehensive guide to the newest mode of transportation in the early 19th century. The book not only provides practical information for travelers, such as distances and landmarks along the railway route, but also includes detailed descriptions of the towns and cities connected by the railway. Drake's writing style is straightforward and informative, catering to the practical needs of travelers. This book is a valuable resource for understanding the impact of the railway on society and commerce during the Industrial Revolution. Drake's detailed observations and meticulous descriptions offer a glimpse into the rapidly changing landscape of Britain in the 19th century. Historians and enthusiasts of railway history will find this book an essential addition to their collection. James Drake's expertise as a cartographer and travel writer is evident in this meticulously researched and well-presented guide, making it a must-read for those interested in the history of transportation and urban development.

First Published in 1968. This is an account of the Boulton-Watt partnership and adds another item to the now growing series of writings on the history of individual firms or individual pioneers of modern business. The choice of this particular firm is due to three facts: the great importance of the enterprise; the concentration in Birmingham of the bulk of its records (the completeness and state of preservation of which is almost unique), and the lack, notwithstanding the existence of several books on the subject, of any exhaustive history from the economist's standpoint of what must be regarded as the foremost engineering firm of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.