Manuscript volume containing a report signed by Alexander Archbold to the Royal African Company on the commerce and value to the Company of their establishment at Sierra Leone, [1725]. Archbold had been an employee of the Company in Sierra Leone for 7 years.

Manuscript volume containing a report by Sir Edwin Sandys on behalf of the parliamentary committee on free trade, entitled 'Instructions touching the Bill for Free Trade'. The report was read to the House of Commons by Sandys on 21 May 1604. Catalogued by Reginald Rye, Goldsmith's Librarian of the University of London, as the original manuscript. The manuscript contains material which was not printed in the Journals of the House of Commons.

Manuscript volume containing a report giving a list of all the costs of the upkeep of a galley in a squadron, [1700-1750], requested by 'S R Gerosna', entitled 'Relazione distinta di tutta la somma che si spende e consuma per il manteninento di una galera dalla squadra di questa S R Gerosna'. Includes frequent references to the port at Malta, and to Sicily, Sardinia and other islands in the Mediterranean, and notes of advice for captains of galleys trading in the area.

Manuscript volume containing a copy of a petition to the House of Lords by the wool producers of Suffolk, 1788, protesting against the bill 'for preventing the exportation of Live Sheep Wool'. The manuscript is endorsed 'Mr Kirby's brief'. The petition was drawn up at a public meeting held at Ipswich on May 29th, 1788.

Manuscript volume, written on 1 Dec 1807, containing notes on trade with Goa, India, and the Far East, with extensive extracts from letters patent of 1 Jun 1637 granted to William Courten. This manuscript was originally bound with a copy of George Carew's Fraud and oppression detected and arraigned. Or An appeal to the Parliament of England in a short narative [sic] and deduction of severall actions at law, depending in the ordinary courts of justice in Holland & Zealand, between diverse subjects of the King of England, and the subjects of the States Generall of the seven United Provinces (London, 1676), in which the letters patent to Courten were printed.

Manuscript volume, 1608, containing a memorandum outlining reasons why the States General (the Dutch National Assembly) should not abandon trade with the West Indies, entitled 'Memoire des très prégnantes raisons qui doisvent esmouvoir Messigneurs les Estats Généreaux des Provinces Unies pour n'abandonner le trafficq des Indes'.

Manuscript volume, [1610], containing a treatise by Sir John Davies, Attorney General of Ireland, on royal regulation of commerce, beginning 'This question concerning your Majesties prerogative in laying Impositions upon Marchandizes'.

Papers presented to the House of Lords concerning the East India Company's status as a Joint Stock Company, Feb 1647, comprising a paper presented by the Company in defence of their trading as a Joint Stck Company, and a copy of the former endorsed by Alderman [John] Fowkes beginning 'Sixe arguments...to justify the pursuance of the trade to th'east Indies by one Joint Stock Onely'.

Manuscript volume containing a memorandum by John Ashley, [1745-1747], headed 'A Proposal to support the British Nation against the ambitious views of France. Humbly offered to the consideration of the Right Honourable Henry Pelham', and suggesting the substitution of a capitation tax on sugar and salt for duties on the products of West Indian plantations as a means of undermining French commercial competitiveness.

Manuscript volume containing Letters Patent of King James I, 1622, addressed to Henry Montague, Viscount Mandeville and several other Lords, Knights and Esquires, appointing them Commissioners on a Standing Committee on Trade. This manuscript would seem to be a contemporary copy of the original document, containing the composition of and the instructions issued to what was practically the first English Board of Trade.

Manuscript volume containing several speeches made during the House of Commons debate on King Charles I's propositions for supply, 2 Apr 1628.

Manuscript volume containing the second part of a treatise on English trade and commerce attributed to Sir William Sanderson, 1629, entitled 'A treatise of state marchant (merchant) and of marchandizing state, consisting of commerce, trade and traffique, and upheld by the King's Royal Exchangers Office', with a dedicatory epistle to King James I.

Bound volume containing file copies of decrees relating to commerce collected between 1717 and 1725 by a Paris office of the Compagnie des Fermiers-Généraux, which was a company trading with the Levant. All are printed excepting the following manuscript transcripts concerning the regulation of trade: 1)An extract of the declaration given to the Ministers of Holland and England by the Plenipotentaries of the King, 4 January 1717, including a note that 'this copy was given to the Company on 11 March 1718, in consequence of a letter written by M. Piquet, Keeper of the Seal at the Council of Foreign Affairs'. 2) A decree, dated 7 October 1717, on the laws governing duties on butter and cheeses. 3) Decree headed 'Cires', 1719, beginning 'The King wishes to treat favourably the manufacture established at Limoges...', and transcribed on the last page of a printed decree of 30 March 1719. 4) Decree, dated 1 August 1720, relating to the sawing and merchandising of merain wood, transcribed on the last page of a printed decree of 9 July 1720. 5) Copy of a letter written by the Companie des Fermiers-Généraux to Sr. Savalette, Receiver at St Valery concerning the liability of duty to goods imported from the Levant.

Letters and accounts from Gunter, Greenway & Co. to Joseph Previté concerning the import and export of groceries. The account books cover the period March 1840 to March 1843.

A signed holograph proposal, 1739, for preventing the illicit practice of wool, tea and brandy smuggling, submitted to both Houses of Parliament.

Manuscript 'Notes relatives à la station de la cote d'Afrique. Gorée. July 1820', partly written by Alphonse Louis Théodore Moges, Comte de Moges, and comprising an account of the French colony of Senegal, with special reference to Gorée Island and Albréda, their products, inhabitants and trade. Particular attention is given to the slave trade, and means of suppressing it are suggested. The author makes his observations after a two-year sojourn in the area begun, therefore, soon after Gorée had been restored to France in 1816. He passes antagonistic comments on the English and their trade. The first two paragraphs and the corrections throughout are in the hand of the signatory, Alphonse de Moges; the remainder of the manuscript is in another hand.

Nine printed bills of lading, completed in manuscript, for ships bound for Marseilles, including those for Le Décidé bound from Salonika, 1728; St Jean l'Évangéliste, from Istanbul, 1733; Le Benjamin, from Smyrna, 1763; Sainte Marie, from Port Maurice, 1765; La Fortune, from St Pierre, Martinique, 1765; La Napolitaine, from Naples, 1778; L'Aimable Marguerite, from Smyrna, 1779; S. Giovanni Battista, from Genoa, 1787 and 1788. Also includes a similar bill of lading for La Vièrge de Grace, bound from Marseilles to St Malo, 1729. Merchandise carried included raw cotton, yellow wax, fish, oil, vinegar, soap, coffee and silk.

Printed bill of lading, 1799, completed in manuscript for the schooner Pearl bound for Demerara (British Guiana) from Stonington, Connecticut, USA. Cargo includes mess beef and pork, prime beef and pork, mutton, bass, codfish, mackerel, horses, mules and cattle.

Manuscript copy of Reflections on the importation of bar-iron, from our own colonies of North-America, printed in 1757, possibly by Joseph Sykes, in response to The case of the importation of bar-iron (1756), written by the Reverend Josiah Tucker on behalf of the Iron Manufacturers of Great Britain. The volume also includes copies of 2 letters, of 29 April 1765, from Joseph Sykes in Hull to the Master Cutler [Sheffield], and of 1 May 1765 from David Barclay & Sons, London, linen merchants, to Mr [William] Dixon [in Sheffield], both concerning the debate on the import of American as opposed to Swedish iron and proposals for additional duty upon Swedish iron before the Board of Trade.The above items are bound with a printed version of The case of the importation of bar-iron (1756), by Josiah Tucker.

Two unpublished manuscripts written between 1746-1750 regarding trade and commerce. References are made to the South Sea Company and British trade in America.

Manuscript volume relating to trade in the Far East, 1691-1732, containing transcripts of letters, memoranda, exchange rates, lists of prices, and instructions for the prices of goods, compiled by a Captain of the East India Company trading between China, India and England. The volume includes an account of the state of trade in India by Sir Nicholas Waits, 1699; an account of the state of trade at Surat, India, by Samuel Lock, 1705; a Chinese merchant's advice relating to trade between India and China; various advice and directions for the purchasing of drugs, tea, musk, raw silk, ivory and beeswax; details of customs charges at Canton, 1704; instructions for the purchase of gold and pearls at Madras, India; orders and instructions given by the Directors of the East India Company; a description of the manufacture of lacquer in China, 1708, an essay on a hydrostatical method of discovering the fineness of gold, and an logarithmical table for finding the rate of exchange between dollars and pagodas, 1732, all by Isaac Pyke, Governor of St Helena.

A printed volume containing decisions of the French Conseil d'Estat relating to commerce, 1700-1708, but including three manuscript items as follows:

1. 'Essai des marchandises qu'il est permis de tirer des pays estrangers...suivant l' arrêt du Conseil du 18 Aoust 1705', a table listing items of merchandise permitted to be taken from Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Scotland, Germany, Ireland and Portugal, [1708]. (2 leaves. 11" x 8½").
2. 'Règlement que le roy veut estre observé dans l'ordre de distribution et raport qui sera fait par les sieurs intendans du commerce des affaires qui auront esté renvoyées au Conseil de Commerce', dated at Marly on 9 Oct 1708', followed by lists of areas of jurisdiction with their departmental officers. (14 leaves. 11" x 8½").
3. Incomplete manuscript index to the volume, which is paginated throughout in manuscript. (6 leaves. 11" x 8½").

A letter book of William Chalmers, 1740-1744, containing letters addressed to agents in Great Britain, Europe, the United States and North Africa. Commodities included wine, tobacco, cloth, spices, leather, copper, papers, butter, citrus fruit, figs, salt, cork and rum.

Letters, drafts and notes, 1830-1831, on agriculture, trade with the colonies, bullionism and other matters regarding politics and trade often in connection with fellow customs official Augustus Grenville Stapleton.

Transcripts of two memorials relating to fishing rights off the coast of Newfoundland presented by (i) 'the committee of merchants trading from London...with the island of Newfoundland', with an accompanying letter, to Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, Prime Minister, 11 Jan 1814, lettered 'No 2', and (ii) 'the merchants engaged in the [fishing] trade from Poole to the island of Newfoundland', to the Lords of the Treasury, [1814], lettered 'No.3'.

Printed bill of lading completed in manuscript for the ship Sprightly Packett, 19 Oct 1782, at Bristol and bound for Cork with eight hogsheads of dye goods.

Accounts kept by Thomas Davis of Aleppo, merchant, dated 30 Mar and 18 Dec 1630 and 18 Dec 1631, relating to broadcloth received from his brother Richard Davis of London, also a merchant, and to gogram and ardass silks sent by Davis to London, 'being 16 balles cont: 80 peeces broad clothes under the m[a]rke per margent receved out of the shipp Sampson of London Bence Johnson master is debt[es?] to charges of merchandize for the fraight custome and other charges as ffoll[oweth?]...'. Other persons mentioned include Bryan Harrison, master of the 'shipp Unicorne' of London, and Thomas Davis.

Minutes of evidence of the Committee to consider the state of the linen trade in Great Britain and Ireland, given at twelve sessions held between 1 March and 12 May 1774.

A volume entitled Customs of ye Stanarys & Journall of ye Convocators 1703. It relates chiefly to the stannary of Blackmore, but also other Cornish stannaries. Concludes with a note that information used 'were copied out of a manuscript I had of Mr Thomas Hawkins. Signed John Hill.'

A collection of 240 invoices, printed forms completed in manuscript, often with engraved headings and scenes, dated between 1833 and 1879, addressed to 107 companies and individuals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and to 2 in New York, from one German and 89 British manufacturers. Goods invoiced consist mainly of textile and textile machinery, pottery, cutlery and tools. Most invoices after Sep 1835 bear the stamp of the Custom House, Philadelphia, and after Feb 1869 many have attached a consular certificate combined with a sworn declaration by the manufacturer as to the origin, destination and price of the goods.

Correspondence relating to the trade of Sandbach, Tinné and Co. with British Guiana, 1808-1909, including correspondence with McInroy, Parker & Co. of Glasgow (9 letters, 1817-1829), with McInroy, Sandbach & Co. of Demerara, British Guiana (about 40 letters 1815-1852), with Blackwood, Conor and Co. from 1879 and with Sandbach, Parker and Co. from 1870.
Single correspondents include P.J. Tinné, Liverpool (1816); James McInroy, Demerara (1808) and Glasgow (1811), both to Samuel Sandbach in Liverpool; Peter McLagan, Georgetown, Guiana (1821), to S. Sandbach; George Rainy, Demerara (1828-1832), and Cheltenham (1839); and some copies of letters from other correspondents.
The letters concern the shipping of coffee, rum, sugar, cotton, and other merchandise to England, and contain incidental references to French, Dutch and English plantations in Guiana, financial arrangements, the state of crops and the labour force, and the use of machinery in plantations e.g. for cane-grinding. The letters of George Rainy also discuss the partnership, apparently between himself, Sandbach, and Tinné.
Also included are an invoice of goods shipped to Demerara, 1810; an account of McInroy, Parker & Co., with Sandbach, Tinné & Co., 1817; copies of the loading lists of ships; 5 printed cheques of Messrs. Hodsoll & Stirling, 345 Strand, London, May 1810, and 2 of Sir Charles Price, Kay, Price & Coleman, 1 Mansion House St., London, 1815 and 1816; a 'Memorandum of Copper, Bricks, Tools etc. required in the new machinery in Plantation Providence' (1866); a printed prospectus for Dissolved Peruvian Guano (1866); a 'Sketch showing proposed exchange of land between Plantations Peters Hall and Providence' (1869); and a 'Memorandum on Sandbach, Parker & Co.'s Sugar Purchases from Estates [in Guyana]' (1907).

Holograph drafts of speeches, 1765-1784, to be made in the House of Commons (but apparently not delivered) on subjects including American internal taxation, trade with Canada, the window tax and defence of the current administration.

Letters to merchants in France, 1731-1842, with details of trade, movement of cargoes, prices, and credit. The letters are from European cities including Cayenne (French Guiana), St Pierre (Martinique), Bristol, London, Christiana (Oslo), Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Milan, Genoa, Livourne (Livorno), Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin, Chambery (Savoy), and Vevey (Switzerland) Recipients include Schröder, Schyler & Co. of Bordeaux; Roux and Co, Marseilles; Gaden, Klissisch and Co, Bordeaux; La Baume and Co, Beaune; and P. Olivier and Co, St Omer.

Manuscript appendices, including statistics, 1821-1823, bound as additions into the author's copy of Remarks on the external commerce and exchanges of Bengal, with appendix of accounts and estimates, 1823-1824.

Copy of a treatise by Sir Patience Ward entitled 'Scheme of the trade as it is at present carried on between England and France in the commodities of the native product and manufacture of each country, calculated as exactly as possible in obedience to the command of the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners for the treaty of commerce with France...28th November 1674'. Tables included in the manuscript list quantities and prices of commodities exported to France and imported from there, and a comparison of these figures should enable their lordships...'easily [to] discerne ye great prejudice ye English nation hath sustained and the great advantage ye French have and doe dayly make by holding this treaty in suspense...'.

Letters and accounts, mostly concerned with the cloth and clothing trade, between 1755 and 1763. The material was created by both Benjamin Wilson and Jonathan Dickinson, who appear to have been business partners.

Manuscript volume containing 18th century transcripts of two treatises relating to European trade, 1697 and 1699, namely a treatise on the trade and navigation of the Dutch, 1699, written in Amsterdam and ascribed in a different hand to Camille Tallard, Marquis de la Baune-d'Hoston; and a historical treatise on European trade in Africa, Asia and America, 1697, ascribed in a different hand to Claude Le Blanc, who produced it for Louis, Duc de Bourgogne.

Financial abstract of the East India Company, entitled 'Abstract of the finances and disbursements for 1783-4, the estimate from the end of 1783'. The abstract is 'extracted from materials received from Bengal', and signed by John Annis 'Auditor of Indian Accounts' and endorsed by John Michie, Director of the Company. Other endorsements include the following: 'Deficiency 156 Lack 17 m[ohurs?]. Bond Debts 193 [Lack] 43 [mohurs?] or about £2,200,000'.

Copy of a memorandum [by George Fyler] entitled 'Further memorandum as to the most eligible transit route for mails, passengers & traffic through Mosquito & Costa Rica (being a rider to the memorandum of Dec 5th 1849) and directed to consider the shackles which now impede the development of trade with Central America, the means available for their removal and the concentration of the British Mails and traffic to and from Australia as also the Pacific generally... Presented to the Right Honourable Henry Labouchère [President of the Board of Trade], 29 Jan 1850. The manuscript memorandum suggests a route via Greytown (now San Juan del Norte), River St. John, Lake Nicaragua, and by road, eventually by canal, from the lake to Port Salinas, and indicates the advantages of the route, such as quicker mail services and avoidance of the influence of the United States at Panama.

Papers relating to property of John Michie, Director of the East India Company, at 'Muffets' or North Mimms, Hertfordshire, comprising a list of the fields, woods, etc. with their acreages, dated May 1780. There is also a list of those paying land tax, with the amounts, headed 'Present rate of North Myms Common' 7 Jul 1780.
On the reverse of one list is a brief memorandum headed 'By the Joint Committee of private Trade and Shipping', concerning an enquiry into the conduct of captain Peter Douglas of the Queen and Captain John Coggan of the Shrewsbury for 'parting company outward bound contrary to the orders of the Secret Committee' in 1777, dated 5 May 1780, initialled by four of the Company directors, and with a note that it was read in court. The documents are accompanied by a wrapper endorsed 'Muffets. (Account of Grounds by Messrs. Michie'.

Collection of manuscripts relating to the wine trade, comprising:

1. Indictment made by Edmond Trimer at the Middlesex Quarter Sessions held at Hicks Hall, 7 Jul 1658, to the effect that George Taylor, victualler of South Mimms, Middlesex, had sold 60 pints of wine (French, white, and Spanish sack) since 7 Aug 1657, contrary to the Act. Taylor had forfeited £600, and was to appear in court to answer the charge. Trimer claimed half the fine.
2. Letter from John Hunter, British Consul at Seville and San Lùcar, 16 Mar 1790, to Henry Dundas, Treasurer of the Navy, enclosing a 'Proposal for a supply of wine for the British Navy to be shipped in San Lucar, and delivered in Portsmouth', and a 'Proposal for a deposit of wines in the Isle of Wight'. Both proposals are signed by John Hunter, 16 Mar 1790.
3. Two letters from James Rannie, written at Leith, Scotland, including a covering letter dated 9 Mar 1795 to Henry Dundas, then Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, for a petition from the 22 'merchants, importers and dealers in foreign wines in Leith', against the proposed retrospective increase of duties on stocks of wine held by merchants on 24 Feb 1795 (wanting); and a letter from Rannie to Dundas dated 9 May 1795 concerning wines shipped to Dundas and wines reserved for him. (Rannie is spelt 'Rennie' in the endorsements.)
4. Memorandum endorsed 'Attorney General's [Sir John Willes] opinion...Wine imported in flasks or bottles, whether the officers may accept the duties where no fraud appears', dated 29 May 1736.
5. Draft of a bill to repeal the Acts of 1727 and 1745 setting duties on wine, endorsed 'A clause about wine imported in flasks or bottles'.

Manuscript account book kept by a wine merchant at Saumur (Maine-et-Loire), recording purchases of wine from farmers and proprietors in the Loire Valley, mostly for the period 1781-1793, but continuing up to 1812. The accounts are written in French, by several scribes (one of whom identifies himself as Tessie Boilesve, [1800]). Certain purchases, after 1800, are made 'pour la Flandre', 'pour la mer' and 'pour l'etranger'.

Manuscripts relating to North American trade, namely:

1. 'An account of the value of the imports into England from the North American Colonies from Christmas 1739 to Christmas 1761.' The account shows the value of imports from each of the 12 colonies, with an abstract of the total amount for each year.
2. An account similar to the above, showing the value of exports from England to the North American Colonies, 1739-1761.
   There is no evidence to show by whom or for whom the accounts were drawn up. They appear to have been for official use.

Papers of the Gordon family of Letterfourie, Banffshire, Scotland, relating to their merchant interests and financial matters, 1735-[1800], comprising, including a bond in £250 of 1735 discharged in 1751 by James Gordon and his son Patrick to John Gordon; two letters from Strauss & Schmidt, Lisbon, to James Gordon, 1763; an invoice and bill of lading, dated Oct 1770, for goods shipped on the Hambro Packet from Hamburg by order of Alexander Gordon & Co., Madeira; a letter from C. Grant, Edinburgh, to James Gordon, 7 Dec 1785; two receipts of 1799 for money paid by a Mrs. Gordon; and a letter from James and Alexander Gordon at school to their parents in Letterfourie, [1800].
The collection also contains material not apparently relating to the Gordon family: accounts of John Scott, vintner in Portsoy, 'for Letterfouries servants and horses when sundry times in Banff', 22 Dec 1798-3 Jun 1799; a 'Certificate of the term of payment of Lady Fraiser [of Durris]'s annuities, 19 Nov 1776, signed by the town clerk of Aberdeen; and a receipt of 1780 for payment for goods bought from E. Fielder, stationer, London, by a Mr. Ruddick. The connection between the Gordon items and the last two items is unknown.

Manuscript volume containing a report [to the House of Lords] by the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, 16 Dec 1703, on the state of trade.

Three manuscript volumes containing decrees, legal judgements, and conventions regulating Venetian trade, 29 Nov 1703-29 Mar 1760.

Manuscript volume containing a report on the state of Scottish trade, 1703-1704, so far as this can be gathered from the Custom House books, giving details of Scottish imports and exports. The report was ordered by the Council of Trade.

Manuscript volume containing a treatise entitled 'The means of a most ample increase of the wealth and strength of England in a few years', 1706, including sections concerning the economic history of England, government regulation of trade and the East India Company. Includes a dedicatory epistle to Queen Anne.

Petition to Henry Pelham, First Lord of the Treasury, presented by glass makers giving 'Reasons against importing French Wine in Bottles', dating from either 1743 or 1754. Signed by Richard Ricardi, Gerard van Horn, William Jackson and Samuel Lowe.

Manuscript volume containing [transcripts of] papers relating to the union of England and Scotland, 1707, including the proceedings of the Commissioners of both kingdoms concerning freedom and intercourse of trade between England and Scotland in 1667 and 1668; a copy of the articles of the intended union between England and Scotland in 1604.