Vickers: A History

First edition, first impression.  416pp, with several sections of monochrome plate illustrations.  Blue cloth-covered boards with gilt titles on the spine.  8vo.  Cloth quite heavily rubbed at the ends of a sunned spine, unevenly faded, a little rubbed and rounded on corners.  Some toning to text block edges.   Internally generally neat, clean and bright but the occasional spot or mark and a few signs of handling. A substantial history of the engineering firm Vickers, founded in Sheffield by Edward Vickers in the early 1820s - and in its early days associated with casting church bells - which grew to become a defence contractor and aircraft and railway manufacturer, with an interest in Supermarine (the aeronautical company which manufactured the Spitfire).  Part of the company were nationalised in the 1960s.