BOOK-KEEPING. 



L» Porte'i rfmarli* on the want of metlmd and arrange- 

 mcr.t in tlic old lyllcms of boot-kccpiiip;, will, in fome 

 mtitxxrc, apply to liii owii, thoujjh it Rill coiiliniics a 

 ta\oiinte work in France. We (hall, however, take no 

 further notice here of foreign publications, but confine onr 

 oblrrvationt to tliofe of our own cou:;try, where every fubjcct 

 conneifted wiih cuinmcrce feenu to have been cultivated with 

 the ijriatcft afliduily and fncccfi. 



The firtl trcatde on book-keeping, in the Englifli lan- 

 guage, of which there is any account, was pnblilhid in the 

 year 15^5 by Hugh Oldcallle, a fchoolmatler ; and it was re- 

 printed, in I jSS, by John Mtllis, under the following cuiious 

 title : " A biiefe inllruttion and manner how to keepe bookes 

 of accompts, after the order of debitor and creditor, and as 

 well for proper accompts, partible, &c. by tlirec bookes, 

 iiamcd the memorial!, jonmall, and Icagcr. Newly aug- 

 mented and fet forth by John Mellis, fchole-niailter ot Lon- 

 don. Imprinted by him at iheSigne of the White I'eare, nigh 

 IJaynard's Caitle, I5»*3, 1 ;nio." In his KpilUcto the Reader, 

 Mdlis fays, " And knowe ye for certainc, that I prtfunie ne 

 xfiirpe not to fet forth this worke of mine own labour and 

 indullrie, for truely I am but the rcneucr and reiiiucr of an 

 auncient old copie printed here in London the I4tli of 

 Augull I j+J." See Ames'» Typographical Antiquities, 

 vol.'ii. p. 733. 



In I i6y, a fyftcm of book-keeping was publifliedin Lon- 

 don by James Pcele, who fays, in his preface, " that he 

 had inllructed many mercantile people in this art, which had 

 been long praflifcd in other countries, though then new in 

 England." 



There is no trace of any other workof the kind until the 

 year 1652, when John Collins, an eminent mathematician 

 and accountant, publilhed a large work, entitled, " An In- 

 troduftion to Merchants' Accounts," which fcrved long as 

 a llandard book on the fubje6t. 



About the btginning of the following century-, feveral 

 fmaller fyftenis were written, chiefly by SiicU, Hatton, Mal- 

 colm, Webfter, Micrj, and Stevens ; but the nioH popular 

 work that had yet appeared, was Mair's " Book-keep- 

 ing methodized," pubhfhed in 17,^8, which, after pair- 

 ing through three editions, was re-printed, with altera- 

 tions, in 1768, under the new title of " Boojc-keeping 

 nioderni/.ed ;" and thcfc alterations, he fays, became nccei- 

 fary, " in confequencc of the conllant change and perpetual 

 flux in the forms and fafhions of accodntiliip." But it may 

 be obferved, that if this edition was modelled after the real 

 praftice of that time, the forms and arrangements of mer- 

 cjants' accounts miift have fi: ce undergone great changes, 

 and manifelt improvements. In Mail's book-keeping, how- 

 ever, the principles of double entry are correctly explained ; 

 but the ndcs and examples are too numerous and verbofe for 

 fchool practice. 



From the firll appearance of this work, to the year i 789, 

 numerous other fyllems were publilhed, better adapted to the 

 purpofes of teaching the art, though differing but little in 

 arrangement. The moll generally approved were tliofe of 

 Dodlon, Wellon, Donn, Hutton, Hamilton, Gordon, Dow- 

 ling, and Jackfon. Tracts were alfo written, within the 

 above period, by Crofliy, London, Shortland, Wood, Cooke, 

 iJedgcr, and Dilworth. 



On a review of the foregoing publications, it docs not 

 appear that the theory of book-keeping had hitherto kept 

 pace with the improvements of pradice. While merchants 

 were cnnflantly adopting plans of arrangement, which pro- 

 moted perfpiciiity and corrcftnefs, and diminidied the la- 

 bourof thecoiinting-houfe ; fchoolmaliers, the chief authors 

 un book-keeping, ftemed only to confult or imitate each 



z 



other's works, which had boen long confukred by men of 

 bulincl's as obfoletc or impracfticable. 



A work of a very different defcription was publiflKd in 

 1789, by Benjamin Booth, a merchant, who thus obftfivei 

 ill his preface : " It is furprifing that in a commercial 

 country like this, there fiiould not be a tieatife on the fubjedt 

 (book-keeping), which, when applied to a large fcale of 

 bulinefl, can be reduced to praftice. Tliofe 1 have feen, 

 appear to have been written by perfons who had not abilities 

 fiilVicient for the undertaking, or by fuch as never had an 

 opportunity of bringing their theories to the left of expe- 

 rience." This elaborate work, which is evidently the refnlt 

 of experience, contains various examples of judicious arrange- 

 ment ; but it is not elementary, having only a journal a:id 

 ledger. 



Some fmaller publications followed, which dcferve com- 

 mendation, particularly thofc of Mr. Wicks and Mr. Shires. 

 The latter work is Hated to be the icfult of thirty years' 

 experience. It exhibits much neatnefs and iiip;ennity in the 

 arrangement ; but, like Booth's Book-keeping, it contains 

 only a journal and ledger. 



hi tracing the progrefs of Italian book-keeping, fome- 

 tliing fliould be faid of a rival mrthod, entitled the " Eiig- 

 lidi Book-keeping," publilhed by Mr. Jones in 1796, a work 

 chiefly remarkable for the enormous fubfcription raifed on 

 the occafion. A profpeftns of this performance was pre- 

 viondy circulated, announcing the difcovery of an infallible 

 method of book-keeping by fiiigle entry, and at the fame time 

 reprefeiiting the Italian method as delufive and erroneous. 

 By high promifes and accredited recommendations, fubfcrip- 

 tions (at a guinea each) are faid to have be;n obtained, to 

 the amount of fix or fovcn thoufand pounds. The work, 

 however, did not anfwer the expeftations of the public. Se- 

 veral ingenious tiafts foon appeared, defending double entry, 

 and expoling the iiifuOieicncy of this new fyftem ; and one 

 of peculiar merit, written by Mr. Mill, clofed the contro- 

 vcrly. This gentleman, in order to form a comparative 

 cftimate between the Englifli and Italian methods, arranged 

 Mr. Jones's materials into a journal and ledger, by double 

 entry ; and, in the courfe of the operation, detefted an ef-. 

 fential error ; — a deteftion which completed the triumph of 

 donble entry. 



The Englifli fyllem of book-keeping, though univerfally 

 rejefted, has proved ufeful to the public as well as to the 

 author. It gave rii'e to much invelligation on the fubjeft ; 

 and the extraordinary eai;eraefs manifclled in the fubfcrip- 

 tion, fliewed that men of bufmefs wiihed for a more practical 

 fyllem of merchants' accounts than had been hitherto offered 

 to their notice. 



In 1801, Mr. Kelly publiflicd a work, entitled " The 

 Elements of Book-kieping," which appears to have met 

 with very general approbation, and from which the prefent 

 article is, by pernnliion, extraettd. The fiibfequcnt edi- 

 tions of this publication have been coniiderably enlarged 

 by trafts on exchange, banking, and other commercial 

 fubjeits ; but its principal object (as ftated in the preface) 

 ie to explain and illnllrate the modern improvements of mer- 

 chants' accounts. Of what thefe improvements confift, may 

 be known from the following account of the work, TJven in 

 Nicholfon's Philolopliical journal, Feb. 1802. 



" 'J'hc improvements, which time and experience have 

 effefted in book-keeping, do not comprehend any change in 

 the original principle of donble entry, but in the arrangement 

 and cbffilication of fimilar accounts, which facilitate the 

 operations of commerce ntariy in the fame manntr that the 

 bufinefs of maiuifaftures is expedited bv the diviiion of la- 

 bour. The elementary treatife before us ('Kelly's Book-keep- . 



