Markets and Merchants of the Late Seventeenth Century

An intriguing story of fraud and litigation lies behind the survival of the business papers of a major London merchant firm which was active between the 1660s and 1680s. Headed successively by Charles Marescoe (from Lille) and Jacob David (from Rouen) it handled a large proportion of England's imports from Sweden and was also a substantial exporter of English and colonial goods. Some of Western Europe's major industrialists and merchants were among its suppliers and customers - the De Geers, Trips, Mommas, Cronstroms, Berenbergs, Wolters, Legendres - resident in Stockholm, Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Rouen. From almost every commercial centre between Danzig and Aleppo over 10,000 of their letters have survived to provide a uniquely illuminating picture of local and international markets and commerce. Of these nearly 500 have been selected for publication here, either in translation from the Dutch or German, or in transcription from the original French and English. In an extensive introduction the business records of the firm are analysed to present a full account of the firm's activities in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy and the Levant. Appendices tabulate valuable evidence on European shipping and insurance and also provide a uniquely detailed record of exchange rates between several major centres. Readership: scholars and students of British and European social and economic history in the seventeenth century.