This is the tenth volume in the Rural History in Europe series published by Brepols. Like others in the series, it is a collection of essays resulting from a conference organised in 2007 under the auspices of the EU-funded COST programme. It brings together a geographically diverse set of perspectives on wealth and poverty in the early modern European countryside and tries to set these in the context of broader current debates on wealth and economic growth in early modern Europe. There is much of interest here, but the volume has all the hallmarks of conference proceedings that have been inadequately prepared for publication. Not the least of these is the incoherence of the work. Many of the essays deal with material culture, in particular the use of inventories post mortem. Anton Schuurman's introduction devotes considerable space not only to summarising the state of current research into material culture but also to the problems of using inventories as sources, questions of methodology and comparability across time and space. All of this is highly welcome, but it then comes as a shock to find several essays that have little or nothing to say about either inventories or material culture. Bjørn Poulsen's essay on Denmark uses tax lists to show variation across rural districts in social stratification. John Broad's essay on England gives an overview of the origins and functioning of the Poor Law over three centuries or so, with just a nod to pauper inventories at the end. Despite pleas for care in the analysis of inventories, some of the essays are frustratingly vague, describing the content of their inventories, but providing little or nothing in the way of sample sizes and percentages.

The most important contribution the volume makes is in the geographical range of its coverage. We have studies from the Mediterranean (Catalonia and Greece), from eastern and Central Europe (Bohemia and Hungary), from northern Europe (Denmark), as well as essays on the more familiar areas of England, France and Belgium. Some of this, such as Dimitris Dimitropoulos's study of the Cyclades, represents very new research. Schuurman's editorial remarks include a call for further studies from southern and eastern Europe to set against the current paradigm of north-west Europe. In this regard, it is a shame that few of the studies engage directly with the ‘new orthodoxy’ regarding the consumer revolution identified by Schuurman in his conclusion, or even seek to compare their findings with the empirical studies published on England, the Netherlands and France. Jan de Vries's ‘industrious revolution’ and particularly his view that it was restricted to north-west Europe would seem to be an obvious starting point for debate, but mention of the industrious revolution is restricted to the introduction and conclusion.

In terms of what conclusions the reader might draw for him or herself, the overall message would be a cautious one. While changes in consumption seem to be evident in most areas studied by the eighteenth century, these changes occurred gradually and were often limited to elites. Indeed, an important aspect highlighted in many chapters is the emergence of rural elites among the peasantry and the extent to which only these elites are visible in surviving inventories. Not only in Denmark had such an elite emerged by the eighteenth century, but also in Catalonia (Belén Moreno Claverías's study), Bohemia (Josef Grulich) and Hungary (Péter Granasztói). The two last authors stress that the poorer strata of the peasantry are excluded from any study based on inventories, a point too often forgotten in more optimistic views of ‘industrious’ or ‘consumer’ revolutions.

Another central question is whether rural material culture lagged behind urban culture. Here, the authors are divided. Poulsen suggests that rural material culture in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Denmark did not differ from that of the towns. Interestingly, he suggests that differences may have become more apparent over time. Other authors argue for clear differences. Marie Ryantová's study of priests in Bohemia finds marked differences between rural and urban clergy in terms of the number and value of books, precious metals and other luxury goods owned, as well as in overall wealth. Grulich's study of four estates in southern Bohemia finds similar differences among the peasantry in terms of furniture, kitchenware and textiles. Both Moreno Claverías and Granasztói sound a note of caution here, arguing for a more nuanced approach that sees differences in material culture as being not just a question of location but also of wealth, social status and differing consumption strategies. A related issue is how rural and urban material culture interacted. Laurence Fontaine's essay on pedlars and their networks shows the complex set of links that existed between town and countryside, allowing for the circulation of many luxury, but often second-hand, goods. Ryantová makes the interesting point that priests in rural communities may have been key in introducing some new goods into the countryside, a suggestion echoed by Moreno Claverías.

While most of the essays shy away from engaging with debates surrounding consumption, wealth and poverty, being content to present empirical findings, the novelty of the areas studied in the context of the English-speaking world means that the volume is still a welcome addition to current scholarship. It is also extremely accessible. Most essays assume little prior knowledge: Broad's chapter thus provides a useful overview of the English Poor Law; Fontaine's summarises early modern credit networks and explains pawnbroking. Schuurman's introductory and concluding overviews provide a valuable guide to the current state of research and the key themes for debate, as well as methodological issues.

For students, therefore, this is a useful volume. However, one would normally expect a greater effort to turn conference proceedings into a scholarly volume. We are forewarned that the journey from conference to publication was beset with difficulties, including a change of editors. Nevertheless, the editing of the English and the copyediting are of an appallingly low quality, with basic errors on almost every page. Brepols volumes are not cheap, and authors and readers have a right to expect higher standards from academic publishers.