Prices, Food and Wages in Scotland 1550-1780 by Alex J. S. & T. C. Smout Gibson - 1995

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995. First Edition. Hardcover (Original Cloth). As New/No Dust Jacket. This is the first study of Scottish price history to be published and a major contribution to the economic and social history of early modern and pre-industrial Britain. Using the remarkable series of 'fiars' prices for grains and other contemporary sources, The authors focus, in particular, on the prices of grain, meal and animal products, and assess how Scots artisans and labourers could survive in an economy that could pay only very low money wages. They show how the Scottish people experienced fluctuations in welfare both in the longer term from generation to generation, and within a given life-cycle. They assess the overall standard of living, & examine the nature & adequacy of a diet in which oatmeal was of central importance: their conclusion is that the Scots were poor, but not ill-nourished. The Scottish records on prices and wages are a unique historical resource, to which Gibson and Smout have applied both traditional and quantitative historical techniques. In so doing they produced a powerful contribution to the perennial debate on the standard of living of ordinary people prior to the onset of industrialization. Size: 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. 16 + 398 pages. Previous owner's signature in ink to fep.. Gilt titles on red label to spine & front. brown cloth; illustrated by b/w. maps, figures, tables & charts. Includes appendices, bibliography & indexes of persons, places & subjects. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilogram. Category: History; Economic History; Social History; Scottish History; Scotland; Economics. ISBN: 0521346568. ISBN/EAN: 9780521346566. Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. Inventory No: 3908. . 9780521346566