Early Modern Debts examines the “lives and writing of early modern people” (4) and offers an interesting and detailed picture of credit and debt relations in early modern Europe. The volume, appropriately published in the series Palgrave Studies in Literature, Culture and Economics, is the result of a collective endeavor by several historians, literary scholars, and philosophers. The book deals with the issue of early modern debt and credit from a particularly broad perspective and addresses a range of questions of both a theoretical and practical nature, echoing the various backgrounds of the authors.

As stated in the very first pages, the volume celebrates Craig Muldrew and his successful research in The Economy of Obligation (1997), which acts as the main source of inspiration for the editors. In fact, they openly claim that the book aims to offer “both a look back to and a look beyond The Economy of Obligation, breaking new paths for the study of early modern debts” (9). It is certainly an ambitious task, considering the influence of Muldrew's ideas on scholars of credit relations in preindustrial societies (including on the writer of this review). Early Modern Debts does a good job in this regard from at least three perspectives. First, the book stresses the ubiquity of credit and contains a range of views on debt relations in the early modern period. Second, it highlights the importance of the “cultivation of credit” through social relationships. Third, through an almost constant dialogue between archival documentation, poems, novels, and plays, it shows the pervasiveness of credit relations in the lives of individuals.

The book sheds light on different aspects of credit and debt relations in the early modern period, such as the forms these relations assumed, the language they implied, and their effects on the culture and everyday lives of individuals. It is divided into four parts, each corresponding to a different macro-theme. The first section focuses on the household dimension and investigates how debt affected social and interclass relations and vice versa. The second part centers on the development of credit-worthy institutions and systems as a consequence of the expansion of long-distance trades. The third part offers a theoretical analysis of the concept of credit and the language used by individuals to reconcile short-term debts with long-term interests in friendship and affection. The last section comprises a single paper written, not by chance, by Craig Muldrew, which analyzes how credit affected English society and the “transformation in the nature of the self.” Muldrew highlights a tension between an inwardly and externally regulated self, whereby the former seems to prevail. The reader is guided through a highly interesting analysis, a long-term journey from Menocchio's Friuli to modern England. It is the perfect conclusion for the volume.

The editors claim that “Early Modern Debts throws new light on the beginnings of an epoch characterized by debt of a ubiquity and magnitude unknown to any other society in history, an era of borrowed time” (15). I am not convinced that the book really talks about the “beginnings of an epoch,” but it is surely interesting—and very much appreciated—that it describes several kinds of credit relations, the contexts in which they took place, and their importance in the everyday lives of individuals belonging to a diverse social milieu.

The wide geographical and chronological openness of the book is perhaps one of its most interesting features. I enjoyed reading about the variety of credit systems as well as discovering the diverse meanings and logics of credit. On a few occasions, the essays tended to digress from the core theme of the book, which could be rather confusing. However, the authors often managed to provide vivid descriptions of individuals and their lives in the early modern period, illustrating the central role played by credit and debt relations. From this point of view, the persistent link between archival documentation and literature is certainly an added value.

To sum up, this edited volume is an important contribution that should be read by all economic historians of financial markets, as it offers an interesting view of cultural aspects that are often overlooked by the literature on the topic.