There is an old but erroneous tradition in the Anglo-Saxon countries that banking began in the seventeenth century with the London goldsmiths. In fact, however, banking is much older, having been practised in mediaeval times extensively in Italy, the Low Countries and Spain. To be sure, mediaeval banking was different from early English and American, let alone modern, banking. Negotiable instruments did not then exist; and book transfers were used where in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries bank notes served in England and America and checks serve today.

Among the scholars who have thrown light on mediaeval banking and who have helped to explode the myth of banking as an Anglo-Saxon invention, Raymond de Roover, professor at Wells College, holds first rank. His book entitled Money, Banking and Credit in Mediaeval Bruges is the subject of this review.

In the first volume of this Bulletin there appeared an article describing a collection, just presented to the Society, of documents relating to the Lynn Iron Works. After showing the importance of these documents for the history of what was the first successful iron works in this country, the account concludes: “At present, all that remains of the original Iron Works is a series of grass-grown hillocks marking the mounds of scoria from the plant, and these old documents, with their archaic expression and penmanship and worn paper, are now in the possession of The Business Historical Society.” Since these words were written, the “grass-grown hillocks” have been disturbed and much of interest uncovered; many persons, singly and in groups, have contributed time, effort, and money to the ambitious project. It is the purpose of this note to bring the reader up to date on this development.