Hello Tim
There is no book (that I am aware of ) specifically covering button backmarks. They get a mention in several books relating to buttons but don't go into much detail. It would, indeed, take a book to cover all aspects of just British military backmarks!
Most of the available information is from a series of articles in "Button Lines" (Journal of the British Button Society) which has been added to and repeated on various internet sites over the years (just search button backmarks). Some of the original errors in the "Button Lines" articles have been repeated on the websites so all the info needs to be taken with a degree of caution.
There is an excellent book by Peter Nayler, "Military Button Manufacturers from the London Directories 1800-1899" (now out of print, I believe) which covers the names, address and dates of most of the London based button manufacturers. This does not cover the backmarks on buttons and obviously a 'business' address is not necessarily the same as a 'backmark' address but the book is very helpful in pinning down details of name and address changes and dates. Copies do come up on ebay and Amazon from time to time.
Roger
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