Victorian Telegraphy Before Nationalization - by Simone Fari (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This volume, the result of research into unedited primary sources, offers a solid new reading of British telegraphs before nationalization. It details the technological discoveries and decisions and their role in determining later ventures, like the British specialism of maritime cabling. It also evaluates the business world of the time, the keen competition between emerging telegraph companies, the moves and countermoves and interaction with ally and rival concerns like the railways and the Post. Particular attention is given to the influence of key players like Cooke and J. L. Ricardo, as well as stock markets and small shareholders' ploys--all the factors which led inevitably to the Telegraphs being taken out of private hands and nationalized, in the name of public interest"--Back cover.

Book Synopsis

This study offers an analysis of the technological and entrepreneurial features of the Victorian telegraph service, together with the companies which ran it until nationalization in 1869. It shows a historical reconstruction mainly based on original and unedited documents belonging to a variety of archives.

About the Author

Simone Fari is Assistant Professor of Economic History at the University of Granada, Spain. He has been Post-Doctoral Assistant at University of Lugano, Switzerland, and 'Earth Connected' Research Fellow at the London Science Museum, UK. He first studied telecommunications history at the University of Bari, Italy, and also studied financial history during a Post-Doctoral fellowship at the University of Torino, Italy. He has published A Penisola in Comunicazione (2008), as well as many articles in international reviews.