The Bank’s first General Manager, J P Hilton, described the early history of the Birmingham Municipal Bank in a book published in 1927 entitled Britain’s First Municipal Savings Bank. This book was published in two editions:

 

 

The book was advertised in the Bank’s Annual Reports and was available for purchase throughout the branch network. A number of branch interior photographs (eg Alum Rock) show copies of the Popular Edition displayed for sale on the counter.

 

 

The Bank’s archives contain some limited records of the sales of the book (cover of Record Book is shown on right). These records include annual returns from each branch for the year ended March 31st 1934, which show that total sales for that year (for the Popular Edition) amounted to only 8. Total sales in the following two years were 7 and 2.

 

 

The annual return from Northfield branch is reproduced on the right. It shows one of the few sales made in 1933/34. Both this return and the cover of the Record Book have omitted the word 'Savings' when referring to the title of Hilton's book.

 

 

Within 10 years of its publication, therefore, interest in purchasing J P Hilton’s book appears to have ceased. Prior to that date, however, the sales records show that branches had sold over 2,000 copies and that a similar number were still in stock.

 

 

The sales and stock records for individual branches is shown in the following table:

                                                               Sales      Stock

 

 

(right)

 

Ledger for Account Number 1827 at Witton branch which

records the sale receipts for eight copies of Britain's First Municipal Savings Bank sold between July 9th 1927 and

February 6th 1928