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Exhibiting Electricity probably won’t grab you as a title, which is a pity,
because K. G. Beauchamp’s book is chock-full of interest from the first page to
the last. Having made its debut early in the 19th century, electrical technology
flourished in exhibitions, until just about every exhibition was about it. The
Victorian section alone is worth the price of admission, with its pictures of
solemn men in top hats contemplating enormous machines, and descriptions of beds
that threw you out at a prearranged time. Published by the Institution of
Electrical Engineers, £45, ISBN 0852968957.