Introduction to a History of the Factory System (Classic Reprint) - Hardcover

Richard Whately Cooke-Taylor

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0666007950 ISBN 13: 9780666007957

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

How the medieval world set the stage for the factory system
This chapter traces the slow, complex rise of manufacturing from local crafts to the large, organized systems that followed.

It explains how religious and feudal powers shaped work, trade, and the road to modern industry.

Using examples from European fairs and early workshops, the text shows how markets, guilds, and monasteries kept alive skills and knowledge even during turbulent times. It also discusses how later shifts—like the growth of fairs in Beaucaire and Stourbridge, and the changing patterns of travel and transport—paved the way for more coordinated production and broader trade.

• The Church’s influence on work, leisure, and charity in medieval economies
• How fairs and markets connected different crafts and regions, fueling exchange
• The move from isolated, local production toward more organized manufacture
• How the idea of a factory emerges as a later development in this long history

Ideal for readers of economic history and anyone curious about how the factory system began and evolved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0666007950
• ISBN 13: 9780666007957
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 466