Part 1 Towards the age of coal: the era of cheap fuel -from early times to the mid-16th century; from abundance to scarcity - the rise of coal 1550-1700. Part 2 Regional developments and national trends: the coalfields of Britain. Part 3 The production of coal: mines and the techniques of mining; ownership and enterprise; management; labour relations and work discipline; the economics of mining; life and labour in the collieries. Part 4 The consumption of coal: sales and transport; measuring the coal trade; the organization of the East cost trade; the coal industry and the economy in early modern Britain.
Completing the definitive five-volume history
`this is a splendid history, worthy of its subject, and now
complete in the five volumes commissioned by an enlightened
National Coal Board ... it seems appropriate that the final
instalment should not be a study of the decline of a great
industry, but a thorough account of its early and massive
foundations ... Hatcher's exhaustive analysis of the accounts of
thirty collieries provides invaluable data on the profitability of
the industry and the nature of
investment in it ... it is difficult to see how this book could be
bettered.'
Times Literary Supplement
'a masterly review of the regional evidence for the industry with
excellent accounts of the north-eastern and north-western
coalfields, and a thorough analysis of production and
consumption'
Northern History
'This massive work completes the new history of coal in Britain
commissioned in 1975 by the National Coal Board ... this work
commands respect ... it is well organised and I found it easy to
read. Dr Hatcher and his researchers have gone back to the original
sources and worked through them with care. They have discovered new
evidence, and brought known matter together in a comprehensive,
fresh and envigorating manner.'
C.B. Phillips, University of Manchester, Business History, October
1994
`This massive work completes the new history of coal in
Britain...overall, this work commands respect. The book is over 600
pages long, but it is well organised and I found it easy to read.
Dr Hatcher and his researchers have gone back to the original
sources and worked through them with care. They have discovered new
evidence, and brought known matter together in a comprehensive,
fresh and invigourating manner.'
Business History
`John Hatcher has written an outstanding economic history, a great
achievement for his period was in source and archive term the most
difficult...This book will be a standard source for many years to
come.'
Labour History Review
`it is an independent work of real substance, massively founded on
fresh empirical research which not only reworks sources known to
Nef but also greatly extends the evidential base for consideration
of the nature and development of the industry ... this is not only
a work of impressive scholarship but also one which is engaging and
very well written ... And it is accessible, eschewing theoretical
grandeur in favour of guiding the reader carefully along `the
unprepossessing route of empirical evidence'. It is a model of how
economic history can and should be written.'
Keith Wrightson, Jesus College, Cambridge, EHR, June 1996
Ask a Question About this Product More... |