Description
Coachmaker
The Life and Times of Philip Godsal 1780-1820
John Ford
First Edition 2005
11″ x 9″, 236 pages + index, illustrated in full colour and includes original carriage drawings,
a very nice clean copy in a fresh dust wrapper,
Philip Godsal was one of the three leading coachmakers of the period 1780-1820, and the only one to have left a detailed record of his business, social and domestic life
The personal papers of Philip Godsal, carriage manufacturer, have been preserved in a remarkable archive which includes a diary which he maintained for 37 years with every item of his personal expenditure.
Previously unpublished, these papers allow the first extensive modern study of the mystery of coachmaking, and they provide an intimate portrait of a man and his business, his family and friends, and the world in which they lived.
His circle of acquaintances ranged from the Prince of Wales, to whose Masonic lodge he belonged, the Prime Minister, William Pitt who was his customer, the actress Mrs Abington, from whom he bought a house, to Henry Fauntelroy, whom he sponsored as a freemason and who was hanged for forgery.
