"This book explores the causes and nature of the industrial revolution through a comparative study of the main wool textile manufacturing regions of England. Based on extensive archival research and including several new or little-known sources, it addresses many of the current debates in economic history and eighteenth-century studies by examining how the interplay between merchants, markets and producers shaped the pace and character of economic growth during the eighteenth century. Particular attention is paid to the rapid growth of product innovation and the export trade as both of these factors affected evolving structures of marketing and production."--BOOK JACKET.