The final directory produced by the Scottish artist, author and entrepreneur James Bisset, of the rapidly growing industrial city of Birmingham, the 'toy-shop of Europe'. By the early 19th century, businesses were using trade cards to advertise their work to customers. Using copper-plate engravings, the directory provides a collection of images, based on these trade cards, creating a catalogue of Birmingham's businessmen and manufacturers at the start of the 19th century. James Bisset (1762?-1832) was a Scot. At the age of fifteen he became an artist's apprentice in Birmingham, and later established a museum and shop for the sale of curiosities in New Street, Birmingham.