From the Coffin sets of the 1870s to the Princess phones of the 1960s and beyond, this book explores the technology and the history of the telephone. Because the Bell Company was the "sole source" for much telephone technology until very recently, much of the public access to this information has been quite limited. This definitive work will end much uncertainty by providing a vast amount of information never before published. Design changes are carefully chronicled with 350 color photographs. Here is detailed information which will help identify a piece and will take the guess work out of dating equipment. For those who are restoring a telephone and would like to ensure its historical accuracy, this book will make it easy to match pieces correctly.