Call Number:

SCRC 671 Cochran

Repository:

Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center

Extent:

0.1 linear feet (1 folder)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Description and date of item], William Playfair Correspondence, SCRC 671 Cochran, Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Date:

1793-1823 (inclusive)

Creator:

Playfair, William, 1759-1823

Form:

Manuscripts and Correspondence

Abstract:

William Playfair, publicist, political writer, and inventor, was born in England and began as an appentice to Andrew Meikle of Preston Kirk, who was the inventor of the threshing machine. Playfair patented the "Eldorado" Sash and a rolling mill (Paris). Playfair travelled widely in America and Europe and was actively involved in The French Revolution in defense of the Royalists. During his life he wrote numerous pamphlets, essays and books. He is best known as the editor of the 11th ed. of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (1805).

Letters, with a handwritten transcript of two letters, documenting William Playfair's philosophy on British, French, and American trade. Two of the letters discuss strategies for ruining French credit by circulating counterfeit currency, thus undermining the French Revolution. The third letter discusses the potential for American trade and the fourth discusses the advantages of the steam carriages patented by Messrs. Bramah Engineers, Pimlico.