Coastal and River Trade in Pre-Industrial England: The Bristol Region, 1680-1730

by David P. Hussey, Lecturer in History at the University of Wolverhampton (UK) and History and Computing Director of the British Portbooks Programme.

This is the first-ever book-length analysis of England’s pre-industrial domestic trading economy, drawing on extensive quantitative data provided by the computerization of Britain’s Portbooks Programme.

It is now recognized that internal trade, for too long overlooked by economic historians, provided a vital link in the organization of pre-industrial economies. This book sheds new light on the volume, nature, structure, and mechanisms of coastal and river trade. In addition, the extent to which Bristol acted as a “quasi-metropolis,” influencing the direction and conduct of the internal trade of a geographically-extensive region, is exposed to a more critical analysis.

Selected Table of Contents:

1. Bristol and the Bristol Channel Region
2. The Vectors of Trade
3. Cargoes, Consignments, Commodities: The Regional Trade in Goods
4. The Organization of Trade: Owners, Operators, Merchants, and Boats in the Bristol Channel
5. The Coastal Trade in Operation

Includes: Index, Bibliography, Endnotes, Figures, Plates, Maps, and Tables.

ISBN: 0-9674826-4-X
Price: $61.95
Pages: 288
Format: 6½” x 9¼”
Binding: Cloth Library
Available: USA and Canada Only