A Distinctive Industrialization: Cotton in Barcelona 1728-1832

by J. K. J. Thomson

Overview

This is a study of the development of the early history of Barcelona's cotton industry. It offers both a specialized industrial history and an interpretation of major issues relating to the industrialization of Catalonia and of Europe as a whole. The major issues discussed--the causes of the increase during these years in industrial investment and the links between "proto-industrialization" and industrialization proper--have been discussed theoretically but rarely tested against historical experience. The book thus represents an important contribution to the interpretation of early industrialization and offers a new insight into Spanish and Catalonian history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521394826
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/25/1992
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.83(d)

Table of Contents

List of maps; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations, languages, measures and monetary exchanges; 1. Introduction; 2. Catalan industry in the 'long term'; 3. The establishment of calico-printing in Barcelona; 4. Why did merchant capital move into the industry in the 1740s?; 5. The development of the industry in the 1750s and 1760s: adaptation to the requirements of 'merchant capital'; 6. The industry at its height, 1768–86, with investment in it as common as in drapers' shops; 7. Spinning; 8. The crisis of the fábrica: the industry from 1787 to 1832; 9. The Bonaplata mill and Catalan industrialization; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...a detailed and highly stimulating case study of the path to industrialization taken by a region that was at the same time a national leader and an international follower, one of the many paradoxes of modern Catalan, and Spanish, history." American Historical Review

"J. K. J. Thomson's book, which synthesizes his own work over many years and those of several other scholars, clearly aims at filling the void left by Vilar, and will in all probability become the definitive book on the premodern stage of the industry for the foreseeable future." Gabriel Tortella, Journal of Economic History

"The issue of control and market is but one of the themes in this rich book. Thomson is to be commended for studying not only Barcelona's early industrial success but also the transition from an old regime to a modern economy." Richard Herr, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"...will appeal to a broad range of scholars interested in various aspects of the industrial process." Pamela Radcliff, Journal of Modern History

From the Publisher