Catalogue Of The Goldsmiths Library Of Economic Literature Index

The Goldsmiths' Library contains the major colection of historical economic literature in the English-speaking world. It includes periodicals, pamphlets, manuscripts and autograph letters-as well as printed books-from the fifteenth century to the present day. The Catalogue, in four volumes, constitutes an essential bibliographical tool and is the key work of reference for early economic literature. It includes all works of economic literature in the library, covering the period from 1470 to 1850. The entries are arranged chronologically under the year of publication, and from 1601 onwards this year-by-yera arrangment is supplemented by 14 subject divisions.

These two volumes, published early in 1987 will now be made available for purchase, at a special price, as a Set. They list the contents of two hundred private libraries, as recorded in inventories presented for probate in the Vice-Chancellor's Court at the University of Cambridge between 1535 and 1760. Most of the books listed (as well as the maps and instruments, scientific and musical) reflect the flowering of the late English Renaissance as it affected all levels of the University community from academic potentates to the humblest student. The first volume presents the lists themselves, with brief biographical details of the books' owners, and appendices which include extracts from early wills; the second volume catalogues by author and title the books listed in Volume I, and is further supplied with an index, under broad subject-headings, of the authors represented. Dr. Leedham-Green has assembled one of the largest collections of private book-holdings ever published for this period in this country, comprising some 20,000 titles.

Economic history is the most quantitative branch of history, reflecting the interests and profiting from the techniques and concepts of economics. This essay, first published in 1977, provides an extensive contribution to quantitative historiography by delivering a critical guide to the sources of the numerical data of the period 1700 to 1850. This title will be of interest to students of history, finance and economics.