This history of Aveling & Porter is the last of Michael Lane’s magnificent histories of all the major British traction engine manufacturers. Thomas Aveling has been called the ‘Father of the Traction Engine’, and he certainly was responsible for a number of critical features, notably the hornplates, steam jacketing for cylinders, and the three-point roller. Rollers were to be the firm’s mainstay from the mid 1880s onwards, and continued after A&P was saved by Edward Barford following the collapse of Agricultural & General Engineers Ltd. This is a monumental book of 256 pages, with over 220 illustrations taken from photographs, engravings and line drawings. Hardbound. NTET