The Outcome of Enterprise, by local author Julian Burgess, traces the history of the mills and the people who shaped its fortunes.

The book was the third in the local history series produced by the Friends of the Launceston Library.

"This book tells the story of Waverley Woollen Mills, which was the first woollen mill in Tasmania, and it's still operating some 125 years after it was established in 1874," Mr Burgess said.

He said the people who built the mill and ran it - Peter Bulman and his brother-in-law Robert Hogarth initially, then another three generations of his family - were instrumental in bringing textile industries to Launceston.

"At one time, there were more than 3000 people working in woollen mills such as Paton and Baldwins, Kelsel and Kemp, Tamar Knitting Mills, James Nelson and Waverley," he said.

Mr Burgess said anyone who grew up in Launceston in the '60s or '70s would probably have known someone who worked in one of the city's woollen mills.

And just about every house in the city would have had a Waverley Woollen Mills blanket.

"What's good about the Friends of the Library doing these local history books ... is that it's putting down on paper some of those historical facts," he said.