Subjects
The History of Gold and Silver
Editor: Lawrence H White
978 1 85196 517 5: 234x156mm: £295.00/$520.00
Gold and silver have been the cornerstones of the world’s economies and banking systems since they were first developed, and the metals have lost little of their allure even today.
This fully reset edition collects material debating the setting up of Gold, Silver and Bimetal standards and the various systems devised and implemented. The debate over the setting up of the gold and silver standards was incessant and much of it centred around which system was best. The methods different governments used were also the subject of much debate. This three-volume edition brings together material on the various debates and will show the profound influence these metals have had on economic thinking.
- Completely reset texts in modern typeface
- General introduction
- Index to volumes 1-3
Contents
Volume 1
Nicholas Oresme, De Moneta (Of Currency) (c. 1355) translated by Charles Johnson (1956); Bernardo Davanzati, A Discourse Upon Coins (1588) translated by John Toland (1696); Gerard Malynes, Consuetudo, vel, Lex Mercatoria; or, The Ancient Law-Merchant (1656); W Fleetwood, A Sermon against Clipping (1694); John Locke, Some Considerations of the Consequences of Lowering the Interest, and Raising the Value of Money (1696), two excerpts; Richard Temple, Some Short Remarks upon Mr. Locke’s Book (1696); Charles Jenkinson (Lord Liverpool), A Treatise on the Coins of the Realm (1805); Nassau Senior, Transmission of the Precious Metals from Country to Country (1828)
Volume 2
James Mill, Elements of Political Economy, 3rd edition (1844); Nassau Senior, Three Lectures on the Value of Money (1840); John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, 5th edition (1893); Michel Chevalier, Remarks on the Production of the Precious Metals and on the Depreciation of Gold, translated by D Forbes Campbell (1853); John Cairnes, The Course of Depreciation (1858); John Cairnes, International Results (1860); William Stanley Jevons, A Serious Fall in the Value of Gold Ascertained, and its Social Effects Set Forth (1863); Walter Bagehot, The Effect of the Gold Discoveries, More Especially Upon Men of Business (1863); Walter Bagehot, The Depreciation of Gold Since 1848 (1872-3)
Volume 3
William Stanley Jevons, On the International Monetary Convention and the Introduction of an International Currency into this Kingdom (1868); Robert Giffen, The General Case Against Bimetallism (1879); Robert Giffen, On Some Bimetallic Fallacies (1886); Henry Dunning MacLeod, Bimetallism (1894); William Hope Harvey and J Laurence Laughlin, The Harvey-Laughlin Debate (1895); Francis A Walker, International Bimetallism (1896); J Laurence Laughlin, The History of Bimetallism in the United States, 4th edn. (1897); Bonamy Price, The Principles of Currency, ‘The Money Market and Gold’ (1869); Edward Atkinson, The Banking Principle (1895)
Reviews
‘[This edition] deserves a place in any serious departmental library and on the bookshelves of many a personal study too.’
– David Laidler, European Journal of History of Economic Thought
‘This is a very useful collection of material that nicely complements O’Brien’s earlier set on monetary economics...the volumes are more attractive and easier to read than many similar collections. It is a very worthwhile addition for libraries where people have an interest in the history of monetary economics.’
– Roger E Backhouse, The Economic Journal