The Pound: A Biography

The author tells the biography of the pound from the Vikings to cyberspace, when - single European currency or not - it may have come to the end of its life, in this permanent record of and possible epitaph to the rise and decline of the world's most enduring currency.

This general survey tells the chronological story of English currency from the first minting of coins by King Offa of Mercia, c.780, to the coming of the Euro. Despite the title, the pound appears only halfway through the book, in 1489, during the reign of Henry VII. Before that, Sinclair, an English newspaperman and biographer, surveys the development of currency from Offa's silver pennies through groats, esterlins, and many other coins and denominations that have fallen over time. Sinclair covers the various coin shavings and debasements and illustrates how the changing value of money affected the nation. The last chapter reviews the future of the pound after the imposition of the Euro. Though quite clearly written, this book may have limited appeal since all but a few pages cover the pound before decimalization in 1971. Not a coin book, nor an economic treatise, nor illustrated (except for the flyleaf), it is more than the average person would want and less than a scholar would expect. English history and coin collections will find this an acceptable overview; for everyone else, it is a pleasant read but strictly an optional purchase.DPatrick J. Brunet, Western Wisconsin Technical Coll., La Crosse
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.