George,
There is material in the Stock Exchange collection in the Guildhall Library,
London, but it lacks the continuity of joint stock / limited liability
company records in the Public Record Office (BT41 and BT31). You will need
to trawl through material deposited in, for example, the Cornwall Record
Office. But, don't confine your search to south-west England - the cost
book, whilst having no legal standing outside Devon and Cornwall, was used
widely in mining throughout England and Wales during the 19th century.
Burt, Roger and Kudo, Norikazu "The Adaptability of the Cornish Cost Book
System'' Business History, Vol.XXV No.1 (March 1983), pp.30-41, should give
you some indication as to the available resources.
Justin Brooke has deposited a digest of mining company records (cost book,
joint stock and limited liability) for Devon and Cornwall in their
respective local studies libraries - West Country Studies in Exeter and the
Cornish Studies Library in Redruth. They would provide an effective jumping
off point for further research.
Peter
______________________________________________
Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599
University of Exeter - Department of History
School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details.
Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/
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