CHILD, Josiah.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Brief Observations concerning Trade, and Interest of Money. First edition and the first appearance of the text that would later be expanded into A Discourse of Trade (1690), one of two variants of the title page (no priority established). A short pamphlet analysing the Dutch market which asserts that lower interest rates lead to economic growth. It also reprints Thomas Culpeper's Tract against Usury (first 1621) with its own title page."Child's claim to recognition as an economist rests on his Brief Observations... The work summarizes the views he presented to the Council of Trade appointed by the King in 1668" (New Palgrave).The imprint reads "printed for Elizabeth Calvert at the Black-spread Eagle in Barbican, and Henry Martlock..." and gives the date as 1668. The other variant reads "printed for Henry Martlock, and are to be sould [sic] at his Shop, at the Sign of the White-Heart in Westminster-Hall" and is undated.

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