This 1939 work discusses the man and his achievements in their historical and social context, and is well illustrated. He was often regarded as merely the partner of James Watt, but Boulton's own engineering and business skills are here given their due importance. Technical issues are clearly explained and illustrated.

This 1939 work gives deserved recognition to the achievements of the engineer and businessman Matthew Boulton. Boulton's importance has generally been overshadowed by that of his partner James Watt, but he was a significant figure in his own right, particularly in relation to the Soho Foundry and his production of coins and medals. He belonged to a network of highly significant men of the period, including Josiah Wedgwood, Erasmus Darwin and Benjamin Franklin, and was a founding member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham. An engineer by profession, H. W. Dickinson researched widely, and published highly readable works on the history of the steam engine, Watt, and Trevithick, also reissued in this series. He succeeds in producing a work which appeals to the scientist, the historian and the general reader, without feeling obliged to over-simplify the technical details.