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Antique Weights. The Nineteenth Century.

 

Nowadays most of the items we buy in our supermarkets are in pre-packaged form, and their weight is guaranteed. If items have to be weighed it is done on a scale which displays the weight automatically. But throughout the nineteenth century almost all goods were weighed individually on scales that required the use of 'loose' weights. Many of these fascinating objects are covered in this book. They were very familiar to our ancestors, and many of them have survived to remind us of what shopping was like before it became a leisure activity. This book covers the main facts about weights of all kinds used in England in the nineteenth century. It deals with the manufacture of weights, the variety of designs, the materials from which they were made, the purposes for which they were used, standard weight-systems, and the legal background to the use of weights in trade and commerce. The aim of the book is to provide a readable account of these topics, using insights from economic and social history where it seems appropriate. So, while the book should be useful to the collector who simply wants to know a little more about some interesting objects, it may also interest the historian. Much of the material is relevant to the study of the complex links between technological and economic progress, in the context of social changes and the legal framework needed to support them.

84 pages, illustrated. With price guide. Card covers.

Price: £7.50 + £2.00 p&p U. K. (Ref: b0011)