This two-volume work investigates the historical trajectory of the Courtaulds textile firm to understand the broader evolution of British industrial capitalism. D. C. Coleman, a distinguished economic historian, utilizes extensive company archives and primary source documentation to trace the company's growth from its eighteenth-century origins through its expansion into the synthetic fiber market. The text provides a rigorous framework for analyzing how family-run enterprises adapted to the pressures of global competition and technological shifts during the Industrial Revolution and beyond.

Historians and scholars of industrial development frequently cite this set as a definitive, foundational study of British corporate history. The prose is noted for its academic rigor and its comprehensive use of primary archival material to illustrate the complexities of long-term business evolution.