R.R. Angerstein's illustrated travel diary, 1753-1755 - Torsten Berg

Reinhold Rcker Angerstein was an eighteenth-century industrial spy. He travelled widely in Europe in the 1750s, supported by the Swedish government, gathering information about trade and emerging technology. The diary of his trip to Britain is extraordinary for its quality of observation and insight, its comparative nature and the large number of detailed illustrations. The breadth of its coverage is astounding: coal, tin and copper mines, porcelain factories, iron foundries, smithies and workshops, rolling and slitting mills, chemical factories, water works and so on. This English-language translation provides, for the first time, Angerstein's work in accessible form. It will be of immense significance to historians of the period.