I offer this book as a continuation of the memoirs of men of invention and industry published some years ago in the 'Lives of Engineers, ' 'Industrial Biography, ' and 'Self-Help.' The early chapters relate to the history of a very important branch of British industry-that of Shipbuilding. A later chapter, kindly prepared by Sir Edward J. Harland, of Belfast, relates to the origin and progress of shipbuilding in Ireland. Many of the facts set forth in the Life and Inventions of William Murdock have already been published in my 'Lives of Boulton and Watt;' but these are now placed in a continuous narrative, and supplemented by other information, more particularly the correspondence between Watt and Murdock, communicated to me by the present representative of the family, Mr. Murdock, C.E., of Gilwern, near Abergavenny. I have also endeavoured to give as accurate an account as possible of the Invention of the Steam-printing Press, and its application to the production of Newspapers and Books, -an invention certainly of great importance to the spread of knowledge, science, and literature, throughout the world.