Acknowledgements -- List of Contributors -- List of Figures and Tables -- Introduction -- 1. The Current Account as Cognitive Artefact -- 2. Why Profit and Loss Didn't Matter -- 3. Terms of Payment in Retailing -- 4. The Wings of a Butterfly -- 5. The Transatlantic Flow of Price Information in the Spanish Colonial Trade -- 6. Product Quality and Merchant Transactions -- 7. The Pinet Family of Gap and its Business Networks -- 8. 'The Way to Make a Huge Fortune, Easily and Without Risk' -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index
Summary
Merchant activity across Europe, America and China during the long eighteenth century is explored in this collection of essays. Using a unique data set from accounts and correspondence, contributors are able to show the fragmented nature of merchant activity and the importance of trust-based social and cultural networks
