Dr Anita McConnell is well known for her work on historic scientific instruments, and has done a thorough job in taking us through the involved evolution of the company, from its early days under John Troughton to the Vickers Instrument Company of today. Along the way, the astronomical activities were sold off to Grubb, Parsons & Co. (in 1938), which subsequently closed. The five chapters on the Troughton and the Simms families provide a valuable exposé on their various astronomical activities before joining up with T Cooke & Sons Ltd. in 1922.

One of the things which quickly emerges in these early chapters is that Trougton and Simms were involved in manufacturing a wide range of astronomical instruments - and not just telescopes. Discussed are quadrants, transit circles, mural circles, transit telescopes, repeating circles, and even a small orrery. Also included are the surveying instruments which were widely used by professional astronomers during the nineteenth century for trigonometrical surveys. Amongst the many illustrations (on page 30) is one of my all-time favourites: the dismantled remains of Sir James South's 29.8-cm Troughton refractor scattered over the lawn outside his observatory in 1839.

The second half of the book deals with the Cookes. During the nineteenth century, Thomas Cooke and his sons Charles Frederick and Thomas (junior) were at the vanguard of telescope-making. From 1855, they exhibited regularly at exhibitions in England and abroad, and secured contracts from major amateur and professional observatories throughout the world (but mostly in the British Empire). In 1871 they completed a 63.5-cm refractor for the wealthy British amateur astronomer, R S Newall, and for two years this instrument was the largest refractor in the world. At around the same time, the 1874 and 1882 transits of Venus had a profound impact on their order-books.