* Steam lore
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If it's nostalgia you're after, a little book received this week may be the answer. Entitled Discovering Traction Engines, it's written by Harold Bonnett and published by Shire Publications, Tring, Hens, at 4s 6d net. Written with a rather unsophisticated directness that probably has little to tell the real enthusiast, it is nevertheless an informative introduction to the joys of steam on the road and contains some evocative pictures of traction engines and rollers and, not least, the magnificant Burrell showman's engine "Princess Royal" all brassed up and ready to tug at any steam zealot's heart.
One of the most useful features of this small publication is the section listing books, clubs and museums concerned with traction engines. And as if to proclaim defiantly that interest in steam is not dead, it has on its back cover an account of the Tasker Collection auction, at which 18 steam engines realized no less than 19,370 guineas.