Matthew Boulton, of the famous Boulton & Watt steam engine partnership, was an eighteenth-century designer and inventor. Before he partnered up with James Watt he was a successful industrialist manufacturing a range of silver and plated goods, buttons and buckles, and the sort of knickknackery known at the time as 'toys'. He had a business network throughout continental Europe with travelling agents who represented his various interests. Without his commercial skills, Watt would probably have failed to bring his steam engine to market, but in due course Boulton started the process that would revolutionise the world of industry and transport: the engine was exported all over the world. Boulton was an affable man who enjoyed company and creative conversation. He was also a founder member of the Lunar Society and became a fellow of the Royal Society.

This exciting new book, the first full-length biography of Matthew Boulton since H.W. Dickinson's excellent publication in 1937, is the culmination of twenty years' original research and brings to life one of the most colourful characters of the Industrial Revolution.