[1] Bookcloth became the dominant bookbinding material in the early 19th century, which was much cheaper and easier to work with than leather, revolutionising the manufacture and distribution of books.

[6] At the age of nineteen, he was appointed to manage their Bradford accounts and to run their Silesia department, patenting a silvery finish lining, which became known as Dacians.

[15][16] He spent the rest of his life actively involved in improving child welfare, creating new schools and changing legislation to protect children.

[24] With competition increasing in the bookcloth sector, Winterbottom argued for improved standards in the way that goods are labelled, a cause championed by his previous partners at Bannerman's.

[25] An embargo on cotton exports from America at the outbreak of the American Civil War triggered a crisis in Lancashire, resulting in mass redundancies and social unrest, attributable as much to mis-management as to supply challenges.

[d] The embargo created a five-fold increase in cotton prices at a time when the market was already flooded with finished goods, causing it to collapse.

[e] By 1869, he was forced to report the failure of his business to his creditors, who met to agree refinancing, accepting an offer of 50% market value on his assets to raise fresh capital.

In the same year, he brought his two surviving sons into the business and in 1881, a new office was established in Newton Street, an address that was to become synonymous with the bookcloth industry.

[4] Winterbottom created a business that lasted over a hundred years, which found a place on the bookshelves of every middle-class household in Britain, while providing the means for educating those less fortunate.

It was also through his work with children and young men that he came in to contact with luminaries of the time, such as the poet Charles Swain,[38] who dedicated his last book of poetry to him.