With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, various modern trades were born and the need to employ young workers expanded. To improve comprehension of many of the new trades and practices required by the emerging industries, various guidebooks and handbooks aimed at a young readership started to appear in the early nineteenth century, and this is a reprint collection of eight books published in different decades of the nineteenth century.

Including numerous illustrations of the tools and machines, and people at work using them, the collection is a crucial source of both textual and visual data about Victorian social and industrial history. The gathered materials also provide vivid background information to enable a deeper understanding of Victorian culture and literature.