Rodney Dale and Joan Gray

In the years 1901-1905 over 140,000 British Patents were granted; many to private inventors — not only British, but also American, European and Antipodean.

From this rich field, the authors have culled a profusely illustrated selection of the most entertaining fruits of the ingenuity of early Edwardian inventors.

In drawing attention to many of the preoccupations of the period — hats which need securing or ventilating, horses which must be prevented from bolting, dress which needs adjusting, rodents which must be trapped, and scores of others — the authors provide as significant and absorbing a social commentary as may be found in any of the more familiar sources.