with information of the most important kind, rendered doubly
valuable by the circumstances under which it has been collected.
From these sources I have freely taken, and I have derived some
additional confidence from the support they have afforded to my
views. *

Charles Babbage
Dorset Street
Manchester Square
8 June, 1832

[*Footnote: I am happy to avail myself of this occasion of expressing
my obligations to the Right Hon. Manners Sutton, the Speaker of the
House of Commons, to whom I am indebted for copies of a considerable
collection of those reports.]


Preface to the Second Edition


In two months from the publication of the first edition of
this volume, three thousand copies were in the hands of the
public. Very little was spent in advertisements; the booksellers,
instead of aiding, impeded its sale; * it formed no part of any
popular series and yet the public, in a few weeks, purchased the
whole edition. Some small part of this success, perhaps, was due
to the popular exposition of those curious processes which are
carried on in our workshops, and to the endeavour to take a short
view of the general principles which direct the manufactories of
the country. But the chief reason was the commanding attraction