A compact, illustrated overview of about fifty important textile machines, analysing their evolution.

Each machine is dealt with in the context of its time, showing the impact that even a simple device like the fulling stocks had on textile production. The greater organisation of the domestic system in the eighteenth century gave impetus to the development of machines like the dandy loom and the spinning jenny.

Featuring illustrations throughout, this is the ideal beginner's introduction to the revolutionary inventions of the late eighteenth century and how they led to the industrialisation of the textile industry.