Training for the harder work to come

I bought this crumbling old volume for one whole pound. Attracted to its title, I imagined it would tell me everything I needed to know. Unfortunately, all it's told me so far is how to build a locomotive, why the children of Topsy-Turvy Land are all so bleedin' pleased and how to train my own kids for that "harder work ahead".

Perhaps not as immediately useful as I'd hoped, it has its moments nevertheless; there's a fine section on letterpress for example. It turned out that this was just volume five of, I'd guess, around ten but a pound for a tenth of the world's knowledge isn't bad value for money, according to my calculations.

Comments

[johno]

Love that "Time-saving Linotype Machine" illustration. Wouldn't mind a scan ;)

[Richard]

Hi Johno, no problem, I'll sort on out tomorrow.

[Aegir]

The design and typography looks very similar to The Wonderland of Knowledge, a set of encyclopedias from the 30s. I was given a set when I was a kid and I've toyed with the idea of scanning the lot in, but 12 volumes...

[Gopal]

Oh my God--that brought back memories of an old dusty cupboard, and my grandfather's book collection. (Also a Brittanica 1919 edition)