The promotional history of Rolls-Royce motor cars from the company’s beginnings in 1904 to the outbreak of World War II has been exhaustively researched and documented in these pages. When Charles Rolls met Henry Royce in May 1904 and drove the Royce car, he recognised his future partner for the engineering genius he was – but that was not enough to develop a successful business. Rolls-Royce needed to establish their reputation in a crowded field. Claude Johnson, the firm’s managing director, was the man responsible for crafting every aspect of the promotion of the cars and the company until his death in 1926 and he set a lasting standard for Rolls-Royce publicity. The story of the constant battle for recognition on both sides of the Atlantic and the different approaches used in each market is related, highlighting the outstanding variety and quality of Rolls-Royce’s illustrated advertising, and how the company used it to attract the most demanding customers. The many strands of promotion that Rolls-Royce used are pulled together, from publicity for success in races and trials, through advertising in important magazines and influential newspapers, to beautifully produced pamphlets and catalogues. It shows the unique Rolls-Royce style: publicising independent press reports and unsolicited testimonials on the quality of the cars, and detailed explanations of the engineering standards and the expertise that created that quality. It also goes behind the scenes, reporting on rare minutes from the Advertising Committee during the 1930s that reveal the decisions that led to some of the finest examples of the company’s promotional work. This book promises enthusiasts a feast for the eyes and hours of entertaining reading.

Peter Moss is a chemical engineer and industrial consultant with a passion for motoring history that dates back to his very earliest years – his family owning old cars as diverse as a 5CV Citroën and a 4½-litre Bentley. He is a committee member of the Society of Automotive Historians in Britain and is its publicity officer and webmaster. He has written articles for specialist motoring publications and has given talks at both of the European Motoring History Conferences – in Mulhouse in 2017 and Den Haag in 2019. Richard Roberts is a mechanical engineer and former information technology project manager who first became interested in advertising of all kinds in the early 2000s. His interest turned to a passion that has led to his founding of the Richard Roberts Archive – an important collection of magazines and their advertisements from the early years of the nineteenth century to the present day. Many of the advertisements in this book come from Richard’s own collection.