I promised to reply to Roger Gosling's request for an opinion on the two histories of British Weights and Measures. Being now home, I staggered through the Zupko book (reference below) late last night. The summary that Roger attached is accurate - 100 pp of very turgid history (royal attempts at standardisation) followed by long tables of measures.
Roger - the bushel (of which there are many) are discussed at great length, and the claim that this is a Saxon measure is dismissed on the grounds of its etymology (probably Norman French).
I think it is a reasonably good book, but if I had my druthers I'd probably buy Zupko's "Dictionary" (see below), or the book by Connor.
Comments:
(1) in several places in the discussion of Saxon and Norman units, Zupko seemed to be quoting secondary sources and giving the opinions expressed by those authors without their reasons. However, there is a very extensive Bibliography of primary sources.
(2) The tables of British measures are listed alphabetically by commodity, first for Imports and then for Exports. There are wide differences between the two lists - imports generally favoring the units that we all used to know and love (lbs., cwt., etc.), exports being fewer in number and in units such as "chalders" (for coal and metals).
(3) The utility of these tables is reduced by: 1. No dates or places are given for the use of the units, 2. there are no cross-references to the discussion of the units in the text, necessitating going to the index continually.
(4) The table of foreign measures also suffers from lack of date and place. Since these units are not discussed in the text, there is no way to determine which are coeval with which British units. Also, the units listed are all European and post-classical, in spite of the fact that much is made in the early part of the text of the influence of Greek and Roman classical units and Arabic units (especially of weight) on British units and European units generally.
(5) The book could do with many more tables and diagrams showing the evolution and relationships of different units. It is a typical "work of (liberal) scholarship" in that respect, rather than the kind of thing that scientists and engineers are used to. If all the data it contains were available on CD in spreadsheet format one could do marvelous things with it.
(6) My impression is that units used in the mining industry are under-represented. That may be because the book officially stops with the Tudor reforms and the creation and circulation of proper standards for each unit in the 17th century, before mining had become so important and diverse. Again, Zupko's "Dictionary" may be more useful here.
(7) The back dustjacket advertises the following book by Zupko that might be more useful for mining historians, in that it gives dated citations of the use of each word, and detailed etymologies, and also goes up to the nineteenth century (covered only in a short postcript in the present book). It is:
ZUPKO, R.E., 1968: A Dictionary of English Weights and Measures from Anglo-Saxon times to the Nineteenth Century. Univ.Wisconsin Press, Box 1379, Madison, WI 53701. 240 pp.
Below is a tabulation by me of all the measures mentioned as used for mined commodities (I included "oil" as of interest in relation to the current standard BBL of Oil), using Zupko's tables and the Index: the units used in other countries for individual commodities are not retrievable from Zupko. From this table you can judge how useful the book is. Lbs. are Avoirdupois unless otherwise stated.
Commodity Page Unit: for Imports Equiv. in Imp. units Ditto Exports Equiv.
Alabaster 104 load Unknown load Unknown
Alkali 104 cwt 112 lbs n/a
Alum 104 cwt 108 lbs cwt 108 lbs Antimony 105 cwt 100 lbs n/a
Arsenic 105 lb 1 lb n/a
Asphalt 105 lb 1 lb n/a
Bitumen 107 lb 1 lb n/a
Brass 108 cwt 100 lbs cwt 100 lbs
Brimstone (S) 108 cwt 112 lbs n/a
Caen stone 109 ton 2240 lbs n/a
Chalk 110 cwt 112 lbs n/a
Coal 72 n/a chalder 2000 lbs, 2240 later
keel 20 chalders
Coal (Newcastle) chalder 42 cwt(5936 lb then after 1676: 7168 lbs)
keel 8 chalders
Cobalt 111 lb 1 lb n/a
Copper 111 cwt 112 lbs cwt 112 lbs
Gold/Ag Cullen (Koln) 112 mast 2.5 lb n/a
Gold/Ag Venice 131 troy lb 1 lb troy n/a
Gold foil, leaf 116 gross ?? n/a
Culm 112 ton 2240 lbs chalder (weight unknown)
Gypsum 116 ton 2240 lbs n/a
Iron 117 stone, cwt, bundle, 14, 112, ?? lb stone, cwt, ton of 2240 lbs
Lapis Lazuli 118 troy lb 1 lb (troy) n/a
Lead 136 bbl, fother unknown, 2100 lbs; n/a
Lead Ore 119 cwt, ton 112, 2240 lbs n/a
Lime 136 n/a chalder (weight unknown)
Ochre, red 138 hogshead (unknown); n/a
Oil 122 gal, barrel, tun 1, 31.5, 252 gals; n/a
Paving Stones 123 each, thousand 1, 1,200 items: n/a
Pitch 124 last 12 bbl bbl (approx 1.48 hl)
Tar 139 n/a bbl 31.5 gals (1.19 hl)
Plaster of Paris 124 mount 3000 lbs n/a
Quicksilver 124 lb 1 lb
Salt 125 bushel (35.238 litres), chalder (wt unknown)
138 barrel(size ??), wey of 42 bushels barrel (wt unknown)
Saltpeter 125 cwt 112 lb cwt 112 lb
Silver 127 mast 2.5 lbs n/a
Stones 138 thousand 1,200 items n/a
Tin 129 cwt 112 lbs cwt 112 lbs
This is probably more than anyone wanted to know, but it was fun doing it!
John
>7. British / English Weights and Measures
>
> Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 21:39:09 +0100
> From: roger gosling
> Subject: British / English Weights and Measures
>
> I came across references to these two books recently on the internet.
I haven't seen them, but they
> look like they might solve the eternal argument about bushels (no - I
doubt it really!)
>
> Does anyone have any opinions on these books; are they worth tracking
down?
>
> The Weights and Measures of England
> by R D Connor
> H M S O, London, 1987 (422 pages)
> ISBN 0 460 86137 9
> A scholarly and detailed account of the history of the development of
the
> British (Imperial) system of weights and measures from the earliest
times.
>
> British Weights and Measures
> by R E Zupko
> A history from Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century
> The University of Wisconsin Press, 1977 [248 pages]
> ISBN 0 299 07340 8
> The actual history occupies only 100 pages. There is then an
extensive list
> of the various units used in commerce, tables of many pre-Imperial
units, a
> long list of pre-metric measures used in Europe together with their
British
> and metric equivalents, and nearly 40 pages giving other sources.
>
> All the best
>Roger
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