fifnrf-'wstVi. 



CYCLOP ^DI A: 



OR, A NEW 



UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY 



OF 



A R '\ S and SCIENCES. 



BOOK-KEEPING. 



BOOK-KEEPING, is the art of recording mercantile 

 trail faftions in a regular and fyllematic manner. 

 A •merchant's books (hould exhibit the true ftate 

 of his affairs. They (hould fhew the particular fuccefs of 

 each tranfaflion, as well as the general refult of the whole ; 

 and (hould be fo arranged as to afford correft and ready 

 information upon every fubjefl for which they may be con- 

 fulted. 



Books may be kept either by fingle or double entry. 



Single Entry is chiefly ,ufed in retail bufincfs ; it is the 

 moll concife and fimple method of book-keeping; but 

 not the moft perfect, being defedlive in fome effetitial par- 

 ticulars. 



Douhk Entry is generally ufed in wholefale and mercantile 

 affairs ; whence it is fometlmes called Merchants^ Accounts. 

 This method is univerfaily preferred in extenfive commerce, 

 being the moft comprehenfive and fyllematic in its principles, 

 and the moft certain in its conclufions. Book-keeping, as a 

 fclence, is, therefore, underftood to mean the method by 

 double entry ; and in this fenfe we {liall ufe the term, unlcfs 

 when there is occafion to diftingullh double from fingle 

 entry. 



Book-keeping, Hjjlorv of. The origin of book-keep- 

 ing, like that of moll other v.feful arts, is involved in great 

 oblcurity. It is generally fuppofed to have been firft prac- 

 tifed at Venice, in the fifteenth century, when that city was 

 the grand emporium of Europe. Some authors, however, 

 think that double entry was known to the ancients, and re- 

 vived only in Italy, with the revival of commerce ; and certain 

 quotations are adduced in fupport of this opinion. Thus 

 Pliny, in fpeaking of fortune, lays, " Fluic omnia expenfa ; 

 huic omnia feruntur accepta ; et in tota rat,ione mortahum 

 fola utramque paginam facit," lib. ii. cap. f-. 



Similar paffagcs may be likewife quoted fronS/ others»-'i 

 which (hew, that the ancients entered the receipts and pay- 



VOL.V. 



ments of money on oppofite pages, in the way of debtor 

 and creditor ; but nothing beyond fingle entry can be in- 

 ferred from this praftice ; nor is it probable that any tiling 

 more was wanted in the rude and fimple ftate of ancient 

 commerce. Infurances, bills of exchange, and other modern 

 improvements required, and, in all probability, produced cor- 

 refponding improvements in the mode of keeping accounts ; 

 but the circumllance which places the qucftion in the cleareft 

 light is, that the terms of this art cannot be traced to any 

 ancient language, but feem immediately derived from the 

 Italian, as adopted in the other languages of Europe. 

 When SntUius tranfiated Stevin's book-keeping into Latin, 

 he was obliged to invent or adopt new terms. Thus he calls 

 book-keeping, apolo^'ijVica ; the ledger, codex acccpti expeii- 

 Jique ; the waftc-book, Uher dektltius ; theftock account.yin-; 

 and the balance-account, epilogijmus. 



From the principles of book-keeping, conjedlures may be 

 formed of its origin. The double purpofe of a bill of ex- 

 change, and the manner of recording the fame, might have 

 naturally fuggefted the idea of double entry. The prin- 

 ciple might have been even deduced from the axioms of 

 Euclid, or the properties of an algebraic equation ; and 

 it is remarkable that tne firft European author on alge- 

 bra, I^ucas de Burgo, wrote the firft tieatifc on book-' 

 keeping, which is thus defcribtd by de la Porte. " Vers 

 Pan. 1495, Frere Luc Italien de nation, en fit imprimer 

 un traitc en Italien (c'eft le plus ancien auteur que j'aie 

 vu fur cette matiere), il fut fuivi par plulieurs autcurs 

 du nieme Pays, & par dcs Frangois, qui au commencenunt 

 du liecle fuivant noii? en ont donne des iVIethodcs impriinecs. 

 Mais I'ordre embarraffant, & le ftyle long & tmhrouillc de 

 ces ouvrages compares a la nettete & a la brievete qui font 

 en ufage aujourd'hui, font voir combien I'experience a poli & 

 ,abrcgc cette Science." La Science des Negocians et Te- 

 neurs deLivres, par M.DelaPorte, p. 12. Paris, 1753. 



B La Porte's 



4441 >4G 



