Step back in time with a hands-on look at the old coach road and the art of four-in-hand driving. This nonfiction work dives into the world of historic coaching, weaving practical advice with vivid anecdotes to illuminate a vanished era and its skilled drivers.

From fog-bound nights to bustling coaching offices, you’ll learn how drivers, guards, and hosts shaped a bustling transportation network long before trains dominated the landscape. The book blends observations, cautionary tales, and recollections that illuminate the craft, culture, and dangers of an era when the road was a stage and the coach was king.

• Practical driving wisdom and subtle techniques four-in-hand drivers used to handle horses and crowds.


• Colorful anecdotes from the road, including foggy nights, close calls, and the everyday humor of coach life.


• Historical context about subscription coaches, service schedules, and the rise and fall of old coaching towns.


• A sense of the period’s tone, customs, and the close relationship between drivers, passengers, and innkeepers.

Ideal for readers of historical travel writing and anyone curious about how long-standing road transport shaped communities. This edition offers a window into a time when skill, patience, and horses on the open road created a unique craft and culture.

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books.

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This text has been digitally restored from a historical edition. Some aesthetic errors may persist, however it has been deemed that any such will not detract from the work's significant historical value.

The digital edition of all books may be viewed on our website before purchase.

Our books are made to order. After purchase your chosen title will be specially printed. Due to the individual nature of the process, please allow 3-4 business days for printing before we can dispatch.