In an ambitious, revisionist interpretation of European commercial life, Pierre Gervais argues that the early modern economy has been misunderstood as simply the prelude to our modern industrial capitalist world. Instead, it was structured around monopolistic groups controlling market accesses and pushing for aggressive expansion, including overseas. This 'Age of Commerce' gave rise to complex societies, ranging from a wealthy European centre to a ferociously exploited, slave-based colonial periphery. But by the eighteenth century, commercial competition had become increasingly destructive, with commerce-based European empires battling for world supremacy and non-merchant social groups rebelling against an increasingly intolerable merchant exploitation. Industrial capitalism was born from this crisis, as innovative producers implemented cost controls and productivity gains. Through a clearer understanding of how European economies became powerful, Gervais breaks down claims of innate technical or moral superiority, and demonstrates the historically contingent nature of capitalist business practices held to be self-evident today.

‘A comprehensive and thoughtful explanation of the emergence and evolution of Western capitalism that offers a powerful, essential corrective to the historical narrative. Deploying a novel, intriguing approach that uses book-keeping systems to illuminate contemporary practice and understanding and highlighting the primacy of market uncertainty, mercantile and governmental control of the market, and merchant solidarity between the late 15th century and the early 19th century, Gervais posits an ‘Age of Commerce' dominated by merchants remarkably wholly distinct from that which followed.'

David Hancock - author of Oceans of Wine: Madeira and the Emergence of American Trade and Taste

‘This book is a radical retelling of the history of capitalism which sees early modern merchants as the source of today's all powerful exploitative capitalism. Instead, it argues that, because of a lack of information, they avoided competition and cooperated to protect profits rather than engaging in individual capital formation.'

Craig Muldrew - author of The Capitalist Self: The Social Origins of Financial Capitalism in Early Modern England

‘Pierre Gervais combines meticulous research and bold argument to show the Age of Commerce as a separate political economy rather than a precursor of modern capitalism. Processes of monopolization and innovative use of institutions are seen to make Europe's expansionist early-modern merchant system work and then collapse in crisis at the end of the eighteenth century. An exciting and essential read.'

Nuala Zahedieh - author of The Capital and the Colonies. London and the Atlantic Economy, 1660–1700