ca. 1920s?]. Small 18mo, pp. 66, [4], with two half tone illustrations and numerous line drawings; with advertisements on front and rear inside covers; a little browned; in the original green limp cloth, covers printed in black; a good copy. An appealing and uncommon manual of engineering, issued by the noted firm of C.H. Bailey, based in Newport in Wales. This small illustrated pocket guide, was one of a number of educational works published by the company in the early part of the 20th century, including C. H. Bailey’s Handy book of constants’(1906), and their more extensive Book of Useful Information’(1906). Some of the illustrations found in that work have been reprinted here.
Founded in the 1880s, the company was incorporated in May 1923 as C.H. Bailey, Graham and Co. Just prior to the start of World War II, it became C.H. Bailey Ltd. Almost 50 years later, the company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Until the early 1960s, the company was engaged primarily in owning and operating dry docks, ship repairing and heavy engineering. While the company’s first dry dock operations were in Newport, it also operated in Barry, Cardiff, Swansea, Port Talbot, on the Mersey, and in Bristol and Malta.