History of the British Coal Industry, Volume 1, Before 1700. Towards the age of coal

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Winner of the Wadsworth Prize for Business History, 1993. Part of a five volume scholarly history of the British coal industry sponsored by the National Coal Board from 1975. Covers industry from Roman times. Deals especially with technology, productivity, profitability, management, miners and labour. Some coverage of relative wood/coal prices, etc. Deals with whole country but north east industry especially covered. Structured in four parts: 1] 'Towards the age of coal' - 'The era of cheap fuel - from early times to the mid sixteenth century' / 'From abundance to scarcity - fuel shortage and the rise of coal'; 2] 'Regional developments and national trends' - 'Coalfields of Great Britain' 3] 'The production of coal' - 'Mines and the techniques of mining' / 'Ownership and enterprise' / 'Management' / 'Labour relations and work discipline' / 'Economics of mining' / 'Life and labour in the collieries'; 4] 'The consumption of coal' - 'Sales and transport' ' 'Measuring the coal trade' / 'Organisation of the east coast trade' / 'The coal industry and the economy in early modern Britain'. Extensive appendices re prices and on weights and measures