Title: La Science des Negocians et teneur de livres ou instruction générale pour tout ce qui se pratique dans les comptoirs des négocians, tant pour les affaires de banque que pour les marchandises et chez les financiers pour les comptes, divisée en trois traités, 1753. Cianelli de Serans Family Arms
Author: Matthieu de La Porte
Publisher: Cavelier, Paris
Condition: Good
A mid 18th century edition of Porte’s Science of Merchants and Bookkeeping, being a general guidebook and containing policies for the everyday practices of merchants and sellers. These practices lay a focus on banking affairs, goods, and financial accounting as well.
Porte’s work is among the most famous 18th century French works on book-keeping, first published in 1704 and frequently reprinted. This text is particularly well known for its extensive section on double entry bookkeeping. It also treats of Billets de Change, weights and measures, and terms of commerce.
As this was a book used for practical purposes, copies have become scarcer, as they would usually become too worn to remain complete. The first part of the book deals with single entry bookkeeping, namely suitable for small businesses. Porte then moves on to double-entry bookkeeping, where he introduces some clarifications and modifications to the existing system. He then distinguishes between the memorial entier and the memorial divisé en plusieurs parties, deals with single and compound journal entries, and finally introduces fifteen auxiliary books livres d'aide, which are mostly illustrated. De La Porte's concept double-entry bookkeeping was highly influential, seeing numerous translations, and serving as a basis for a number of other financial texts from various nations.
These volumes are present in a fine leather binding with gilt tooling and bearing the arms of the Cianelli de Serans Family.
One finely bound volume in oblong octavo, XVI+608 pages
This volume is in good shape, with some rubbing and wear to the binding, and the front hinges cracked, with the cords holding. There is very little foxing or staining throughout. The binding is slightly splayed.