Victorian Insolvency

The narrative is well written, and incorporates new material. The statistical work is careful to take into account factors that defy precise quantification. This is an attractively presented book that deals with topics that have not received sustained attention elsewhere.'Legal Historya most thorough and scholarly study of insolvency in the Victorian era, and reprsents a lasting contribution to the literature on the casualties of business activity. Drawing on a great range of sources, it is very well written and impeccably presented. the legal, financial and adminsitrative aspects of insolvency in the nineteenth century are thoroughly explored…there is agreat deal here for anyone e=with an interest in the Victorian era generally, forlegal and government historians, and for students of thecapital market and particularly business historians. A acrefully prepared statistical appendix, a detailed bibliography and index round off aninvaluable contribution.‘Business HistoryLittle scholarly attention has been paid by historians to this ever present aspect of nineteenth-century economic and social life. Lester has done historians great service by rescuing insolvency from this neglect and producing a meticulously researched monograph on bankruptcy and debt.

V. Markham Lester is an Assistant Professor of History at Birmingham-Southern College, Alabama.