“L.T.C. Rolt’s “Short History of Machine Tools””
Thanks for the suggestion!
“Early Engineering Reminiscences (1815-40) of George Escol Sellers” edited by Eugene S. Ferguson is the other book I was trying to think of. Sellers was blessed with a prominent and intelligent extended family, a childhood spent in a then-impressive Philadelphia, and a prodigious memory. It is a chatty, fascinating little book on a wide range of mechanical interests from coinage, to papermaking, to steam locomotives, etc... with many personalities (including his artistic Peale relatives) and a trip to an intensely inventive England thrown in. A fun read.