Matthew Boulton was a leading industrialist, entrepreneur and Enlightenment figure. Often overshadowed through his association with James Watt, his Soho manufactories put Birmingham at the centre of what has recently been termed 'The Industrial Enlightenment'. Exploring his many activities and manufactures-and the regional, national and international context in which he operated-this publication provides a valuable index to the current state of Boulton studies. Combining original contributions from social, economic, and cultural historians, with those of historians of science, technology and art, archaeologists and heritage professionals, the book sheds new light on the general culture of the eighteenth century, including patterns of work, production and consumption of the products of art and industry. The book also extends and enhances knowledge of the Enlightenment, industrialization and the processes of globalization in the eighteenth century.
Contents: Foreword; Chronology: Matthew Boulton; Introduction, Kenneth Quickenden, Sally Baggott and Malcolm Dick; Matthew Boulton, Birmingham and the Enlightenment, Peter M. Jones; Matthew Boulton - innovator, Jennifer Tann; Was Matthew Boulton a scientist? Operating between the abstract and the entrepreneurial, David Philip Miller; The origins of the Soho Manufactory and its layout, George Demidowicz; Boulton, Watt and Wilkinson: the birth of the improved steam engine, Jim Andrew; Matthew Boulton's copper, Peter Northover and Nick Wilcox; The mechanical paintings of Matthew Boulton and Francis Eginton, Barbara Fogarty; Samuel Garbett and early Boulton and Fothergill assay silver, Kenneth Quickenden; Hegemony and hallmarking: Matthew Boulton and the battle for the Birmingham Assay Office, Sally Baggott; Dark Satanic millwrights? Forging foremanship in the industrial revolution: Matthew Boulton and the leading hands of Boulton and Watt, Joseph Melling; Workers at the Soho Mint, 1788-1809, Sue Tungate; Matthew Boulton's Jewish partners between France and England: innovative networks and merchant enlightenment, Liliane Hilaire-Perez and Bernard Vaisbrot; Enlightened entrepreneurs versus 'philosophical pirate', 1788-1809: two faces of the Enlightenment, Irina Gouzevitch; Creating an image: portrait prints of Matthew Boulton, Val Loggie; The death of Matthew Boulton 1809: ceremony, controversy and commemoration, Malcolm Dick; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.
