Lives of Boulton and Watt. Principally from the Original Soho Mss

Lives of Boulton and Watt. Principally from the Original Soho Mss. - Comprising also a history of the invention and introduction of the steam engine

The present volume concludes the authors Lives of the Engineers. Its preparation was begun many years since. The favourable reception given to the Life of George Stephenson, the principal improver and introducer of the locomotive engine, encouraged the author to follow it by a Life of James Watt, the principal inventor and introducer of the condensing engine. On making inquiries, however, he found that the subject had already been taken in hand by J. P. Muirhead, Esq., the literary executor of the late Mr. Watt, of Aston Hall, near Birmingham. As Mr. Muirhead was in all respects entitled to precedence, and was, moreover, in possession of the best sources of information, the authors contemplated Life of Watt was abandoned, and he satisfied himself with embodying the substance of the materials he had collected in a review of Mr. Muirheads work, which appeared in the Quarterly Review for July, 1858. Having recently, however, through the kindness of M. P. W. Boulton, Esq., of Tew Park, Oxon, been enabled to examine the extensive collection of documents brought from Soho, including the original correspondence between Watt and Small, between Watt and Boulton, and between the latter and his numerous [vi] intimate friends and business correspondents, it has appeared to the author that, notwithstanding the valuable publications of Mr. Muirhead, the story of the life of Watt is one that will well bear to be told again, in connexion with the life and labours of Matthew Boulton of Soho. The two men were so intimately related during the most important period of their lives, and their biographies so closely intermingle, that it is almost impossible to separate them. They are therefore treated conjointly in the present volume, under the title of Boulton and Watt, the name of the old Soho firm which so long enjoyed a world-wide reputation. But though the name of Boulton takes priority in the title, that of Watt will be found in many respects the most prominent in the narrative. The MS. papers which have been consulted for the purposes of the present volume are of an unusually complete and varied character. They consist of several thousand documents selected from the tons of business books and correspondence which had accumulated at Soho. The most important were selected and arranged by the late M. Robinson Boulton, Esq., who entertained the highest regard for his father's memory; and, from the character of the collection, the author inclines to the opinion that it must have been made with a view to the preparation and publication of a Life of Matthew Boulton,which has not, however, until now been undertaken. Thus, among sundry papers endorsed M. BoultonBiographical Memoirs, is found a MS. memoir in the handwriting of James Watt, entitled Memorandum concerning Mr. Boulton, commencing with my first acquaintance with him, and another of a [vii] similar character, by Mr. James Keir,both written shortly after Mr. Boultons death. Another collection, endorsed Familiarum Epistol et Select, 1755 to 1808, contains letters received from various distinguished personages in the course of Mr. Boultons long and interesting career. The number of original documents is indeed so large, that, but for a rigid exclusion of non-essential matter, these Lives must have expanded into several volumes, instead of being compressed into one. But the author believes labour to be well bestowed in practising the art of condensation, and that the interest of biography gains much by judicious rejection. What Watt said to Murdock as to the production of a machine, holds equally true as to the production of a book,It is a great thing, said Watt, to know what to do without. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 52069
Author: Smiles, Samuel
Release Date: May 15, 2016
Format: eBook
Language: English