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Three chapters from William Llewellyn's book on his father, W H Preece, covering the period from 1834-1856. TS copy with MS introduction and MS corrections and insertions in an unknown hand (W L Preece?). Introduction gives a brief biographical history of W H Preece. Chapter one, entitled 'The earliest days,' describes the early history of electricity up to the time of Preece's birth. Chapter two, entitled 'The birth and early growth of Electric Telegraphy on land,' describes the early development of the electric telegraph by Schilling, Gauss, Weber and Steinheil; W F Cooke's development, with Wheatstone, of the electric telegraph for British railways; the capture of Tawell by means of a telegraphed message; the work of Samuel Morse in the United States; the work of Alexander Bain in Scotland; the establishment of the first telegraph companies, including the Electric Telegraph Company, and their first cable-laying projects. Chapter three, entitled 'The advance of telegraphy,' describes Preece's education at King's College School; his appointment to the Electric Telegraph Company; his description of the Time Ball; experiments in buried conductors carried out by Preece for the company; Faraday's experiments on the same subject; Edwin Clarke's work on line construction; Preece's first patent for duplex telegraph working; C F Varley's inventions, including the DC method of working and the condenser; Preece's views on informing the public of the company's work and other early papers, and Preece's appointment as Superintendent of the Electric Telegraph Company's Southern District. MS insertions after pages 13, 19, 39 and 104.