Written largely by her former research students, this book honours the varied and creative career of Joan Thirsk.

In the first thirty years of trade registration, between 1876 and 1906, over 250,000 marks were registered in Britain. In this book, David Newton, formerly Head of Patents Information at the British Library, has selected 220 of the most interesting and curious of those early brands. Shell originated with one Marcus Samuel selling antiques and curios, including sea shells, in Smithfield in 1833; it was only when his son visited the Caspian Sea and saw an opportunity to export oil from Russia that trade in the better known product began. An advertising campaign for Listerine mouthwash, originally a disinfectant for surgical procedures, coined the phrase 'always a bridesmaid, never a bride'. From Carlsberg beer to Triumph cars, from Lea and Perrin sauces to Beecham's pills, we learn the history of these brands, the companies which registered them, and how the brands have developed over the years.

This book is out of the ordinary. As well as describing the many changes in Sheffield between 1914 and 1918, it tells about the troubling events in following years as poverty and riots took hold.It is also special in identifying hundreds of small as well as large Sheffield companies that worked to provide the necessities of war. With many previously-hidden facts, the book describes the city's 'national factories', the new Ministry of Munitions, the government's control of companies, arguments about the employment of women, an increased emphasis on workers' welfare, the impact of the Sheffield Committee on Munitions of War, and the special contributions of the Cutlers' Company.Compulsory call-up, conscientious objectors and the work of the Sheffield Military Tribunal are also brought to life, as are problems caused by a shortage of food and the eventual imposition of rationing. The city's German prisoners of war are introduced, as are the ravages of influenza and the terrible poverty and conflict that soon afflicted the city. These local changes are presented against a background of important national events and with more than 100 original photographs.