Works on Units

The publications in this list are cited more than once in this Web site, and are listed here to reduce the download time of individual pages, through caching of this page. The entries are arranged by the language of the publication, not by the region whose metrology they discuss.

Catalan

Danish
English
French
German

Italian
Latin
Russian
Spanish

Multi-Lingual

Technical Conversion Factors for Agricultural Commodities.
Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1972.

In Catalan

Claudi Alsona i Català, Gaspar Feliu i Montfort and Lluis Marquet i Ferigle.
Diccionari de Mesures Catalanes.
Barcelona: Curial Ediciones Catalanes, 1996.

A reprint of a work first published in 1990; we do not know by whom. An exemplary modern treatment of traditional local weights and measures.

In Danish

N. E. Nørlund.
De Gamle Danske Længdeenheder.
Copenhagen: I kommission hos Munksgaard, 1944.

Kurt Petersen.
Mål og vægt i Danmark.
Kgs. Lyngby: Polyteknisk Forlag, [2002].

Poul Rasmussen.
Mål og Vægt.
Dansk Historisk Fællesforenings Håndboger.
Copenhagen: Dansk Historisk Fællesforenings, 1967.

Poul Thestrup.
Pund og alen. Danske mål- og vægtenheder fra 1683-reformen til idag.
Arkivernes Informationsserie.
Copenhagen: Rigsarkivet (G.E.C. Gad), 1991.

In English

J. H. Alexander.
Universal Dictionary of Weights and Measures, Ancient and Modern, reduced to the standards of the United States of America.
Baltimore: Wm. Minifie and Co., 1850.

R. D. Connor.
The Weights and Measures of England.
London: HMSO, 1987.

R. D. Connor and A. D. C. Simpson.
A. D. Morrison-Low, editor.
Weights and Measures in Scotland. A European Perspective.
National Museums of Scotland and Tuckwell Press, 2004.

Michael Dalton.
The Countrey Justice.
London, 1635.

Florence Edler.
Glossary of Mediaeval Terms of Business. Italian Series 1200 – 1600.
Cambridge (MA): The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1934.

England. Commissioners of Customs.
The Rates of the Custome house. Reduced into a much better order for the redier finding of anything therin contained, then at any time heertofore hath beene: and now againe newly corrected, enlarged and amended. Wherunto is also added the true difference and contents of waights and measures, with other things neuer before Imprinted.
London: John Windet for the Widdow of John Allde, 1590.

Astrid Friss and Kristof Glamann.
A History of Prices and Wages in Denmark, 1660 - 1800.
Volume 1.
Published for the Institute of Economics and History, Copenhagen, by
London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1958.

Timothy F. Garrard.
Akan Weights and the Gold Trade.
Legon History Series, A. A. Boahen, General Editor.
London: Longman, 1980.

Hubert Hall and Frieda J. Nicholas, editors.
“Select Tracts and Table Books Relating to English Weights and Measures (1100-1742).”
in Camden Miscellany, volume 15.
London: Camden Society, 1929.

Richard Hayes.
The Negociator's Magazine: or, The most authentick account yet published of the Monies, Weights, and Measures of the Principal Places of Trade in the World...
London: John Noon, 1740.

Elibron offers a facsimile reprint.

Alexander Huntar.
A Treatise of Weights, Mets and Measures of Scotland.
Edinburgh, 1624.

P[atrick] Kelly.
The Universal Cambist and Commercial Instructor: Being a full and accurate treatise on the exchanges, coins, weights, and measures, of all trading nations and their colonies.
Second Edition, with supplements.
London: Longman and Co., 1835.

Bruno Kisch.
Scales and Weights. A Historical Outline.
Yale Studies in the History of Science and Medicine, 1.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965.

Richard M. Lederer, Jr.
Colonial American English. A Glossary.
Essex, Connecticut: A Verbatim Book, 1985.

William Parry, revisor.
Federal and State Laws Relating to Weights and Measures. Third Edition.
U.S. Dept of Commerce, Bureau of Standards. Miscellaneous Publication No. 20.
Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1926.

Omeljan Pritsak.
The Origins of the Old Rus' Weights and Monetary Systems. Two studies in Western Eurasian metrology and numismatics in the seventh to eleventh centuries.
Harvard Series in Ukrainian Studies.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 1998.

William Sheppard.
Of the Office of the Clerk of the Market, of Weights and Measures, and of the Laws of Provision for Man and Beast.
London; Printed by J. S. for Samuel Heyrick... and George Dawes, 1665.

P[eter] L[und] Simmonds.
The Commercial Dictionary of Trade Products, Manufacturing and Technical Terms, Moneys, Weights, and Measures of all Countries.
New edition revised and enlarged.
London: George Routledge and Sons, 1892.

[John Swinton (Lord Swinton)].
A Proposal for Uniformity of Weights and Measures in Scotland by execution of the laws now in force. With Tables of the English and Scotch Standards, and of... Second Edition.
Edinburgh: Printed for Peter Hill, 1789.

United Kingdom. House of Commons. [Carysfort Committee]
Report from the Committee Appointed to Inquire into the Original Standards of Weights and Measures in This Kingdom, and to Consider the Laws Relating Thereto.
Report from Committees of the House of Commons, 2, (1737-65).

Pages 411 to 451.

United Kingdom. House of Commons.
Report (Second) of Commissioners to Consider the Subject of Weights and Measures 13 July 1820.
Parliamentary Papers 1820. (HC314)

Pages 473-512.

United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Statistical Office of the United Nations.
World Weights and Measures. Handbook for Statisticians.
Statistical Papers. Series M no. 21 Revision 1. (ST/STAT/SER.M/21/rev.1)
New York: United Nations, 1966.

United Nations. Statistical Office of the United Nations in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
World Weights and Measures. Handbook for Statisticians. Provisional Edition.
Statistical Papers. Series M no. 21.
New York: United Nations, 1955.

United States. Department of State.
Report of the Secretary of State [John Quincy Adams] upon weights and measures, in obedience to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the fourteenth of December 1819.
Washington: Gales & Seaton, 1821.

Also printed as Senate document 119 and House document 109 of the 16th Congress, 2nd session. House edition reprinted by the Arno Press in 1980.

W. Waterston.
A Manual of Commerce.
Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1855.

[John Worlidge.]
Dictionarium Rusticum & Urbanicum: or, A Dictionary Of all sorts of Country Affairs, Handicraft, Trading, and Merchandizing. Containing more particularly [etc.]
London: J. Nicholson, 1704.

Reprinted in facsimile by Sherwin & Freutel, Los Angeles, 1970.

Ronald E. Zupko.
A Dictionary of Weights and Measures for the British Isles: The Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century.
Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1985.

In French

Books in the series directed by Pierre Charbonnier, with various publishers.

Pierre Charbonnier.
Les Anciennes Mesures Locales du Midi Méditerranéen, d'après les Tables de Conversion.
Presses Universitaires Blaise-Pascal, 1994.(?)
Pierre Charbonnier.
Les Anciennes Mesures Locales du Massif-Centrale, d'après les Tables de Conversion.
Clermont-Ferrand: Institute d'études du Massif central, 1990.
Pierre Charbonnier and Abel Poitrineau.
Les Anciennes Mesures Locales du Centre-Ouest, d'après les Tables de Conversion.
Clermont-Ferrand: Presses Universitaires Blaise-Pascal, 2001.

Covers the departments of Charente, Charente-Maritime, Cher, Indre, Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe, Sèvres, Vendée, Vienne.
Abel Poitrineau.
Les Anciennes Mesures Locales du Sud-Ouest, d'après les Tables de Conversion.
Clermont-Ferrand: Institut d'études du Massif central, Université Blaise-Pascal, 1996.

Horace Doursther.
Dictionnaire universel des poids et mesures anciens et modernes, contenat des tables des monnaies de tous les pays.
Brussels: M. Hayez, Imprimeur de l'Académie Royale, 1840.

Reprinted in facsimile by Meridian Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1965.

Francisco Serradora y Altés.
Traité des monnaies, poids et mesures, etc.
Marseille, 1832.

Gabriel Ferrand.
Les poids, mesures et monnaies des mers du sud aux XVIe et XVIIe siécles.
Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1921

Reprinted from Journal Asiatique, Juillet-Décembre 1920.

François Gattey.
Tables des rapports des anciennes mesures agraires avec les nouvelles.... 3rd edition.
Paris: Chez Michaud Frères, et chez l'auteur (1812).

Available as microfilm, no. 20423 in the Goldsmith-Kress library of economic literature.

Frédéric Godefroy.
Dictionnaire de L'Ancienne Langue Française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle[,] composé d'après le dépouillement de tous les plus importants documents[,] manuscrits ou imprimés qui se trouvent dans les grandes bibliothèques de la France et de l'Europe et dans les principales archives départmentales[,] municipales, hospitalières ou privées.
Paris: Librairie Émile Bouillon, 1895.

A. Th. Kupffer.
Travaux de la Commission pour fixer les mesures et les poids de l'Empire de Russie.
St. Petersburg: Imprimerie de l'Expedition de la Confection des Papiers de la Couronne, 1841.

M. J. Oppert.
L'Étalon des Mesures Assyriennes, fixé par les textes cunéiformes.
Paris: Librarie Maisonneuve et Cie, 1874.

Reprinted from Journal Asiatique, August-September 1872 and October-November 1874.

Alexis-Jean-Pierre Paucton.
Métrologie, ou, Traité des mesures, poids et monnoies des anciens peuples & des modernes.
Paris: Veuve Desaint, 1780.

Jean Forien de Rochesnard.
Album des Poids d' Afrique. 2nd ed.
Colombes (France): 1978.

In German

Walther Hinz.
Islamische Masse und Gewichte Umgerechnet ins Metrische System.
Handbuch der Orientalistik, Ergänzungsband 1, Heft 1.
Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1955.

Friedrich Otto Hultsch.
Griechische und Römische Metrologie.
Berlin: Weidmann, 1862.

Richard Klimpert.
Lexikon der Münzen, Masse, Gewichte, Zählarten und Zeitgrössen aller Länder der Erde. Second Edition.
Berlin: Verlag von C. Regenhardt, 1896.

J. C. Nelkenbrecher.
Taschenbuch für Kaufleute. 20th edition.
Newly revised by Dr. Ernst Jerusalem.
Berlin: Druck und Verlag von Georg Reimer, 1890.

Erich Schilbach.
Byzantinische Metrologie.
Munich: C. H. Beck, 1970.

The same author has an an accompanying publication, Byzantische metrologische Quellen, in two editions.

Harald Witthöft.
Handbuch der Historischen Metrologie. Band 3. Deutsche Masse und Gewichte des 19. Jahrhunderts, nach Gesetzen, Verordnungen und autorisierten Publikationen deutscher Staaten, Territorien und Städte.
Teil 2. Die Maß- und Gewichtseinheiten.
St. Katharinen, Germany: Scripta Mercaturae Verlag, 1994.

In Italian

Georgio di Lorenzo Chiarini.
Libro che tracta di mercatantie et usanze de' paesi.
Florence, 1481.

A valuable modern edition collates the manuscripts and early editions and compares Chiarini's information with that of Balducci Pegolotti and Giovanni di Antonio da Uzzano:
Franco Borlandi.
El Libro di Mercatantie et Uzanze de' Paesi.
Series: Documenti e Studi per la Storia del Commercio e del Diritto Commerciale Italiano. VII.
Torino: S. Lattes & C. Editori, 1936.
Reprinted in facsimile in 1970 by Bottega d'Erasmo (Torino), in an edition of only 100 copies.

Angelo Martini.
Manuale di metrologia.
Turin: E. Loescher, 1883.

Francesco Balducci Pegolotti.
La pratica della mercatura.
Written about 1340, but first published as Tome 3 of
Gian Francesco Pagnini del Ventura.
Della decima e delle altre gravezze, imposte dal comune di Firenze, della moneta e della mercatura de' Fiorentini fino al secolo XVI.
Lisbon and Lucca: 1766.

Reprinted in facsimile by Fornia Editore (Bologna, 1967.) The following English edition contains valuable glossaries:
Allen Evans, editor.
Cambridge (MA): The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1936.
Reprinted (1970) by Kraus Reprint Co., NY.

Giovani di Antonio da Uzzano.
La pratica della mercatura.
Written about 1442, but first published as Tome 4 of
Gian Francesco Pagnini del Ventura.
Della decima e delle altre gravezze, imposte dal comune di Firenze, della moneta e della mercatura de' Fiorentini fino al secolo XVI.
Lisbon and Lucca: 1766.

Reprinted in facsimile by Fornia Editore (Bologna, 1967.)

Alfredo Stussi.
Zibaldone da Canal: manoscritto mercantile del sec. XIV.
Venice: Fonti per la Storia di Venezia, 1967.

An English translation with very helpful notes:
John E. Dotson.
Merchant Culture in Fourteenth Century Venice. The Zibaldone da Canal.
Medieval & Renaissance Texts and Studies volume 98.
Binghamton (NY): Medieval & Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1994.

In Latin

Charles Du Fresne, sieur Du Cange.
Glossarium medaiæ et infirmæ latinitatis, conditum a Carolo Du Fresne, domino Du Cange; auctum a monachis Ordinis s. Benedicti, cum supplementis integris d. P. Carpenterii, Adelungii, aliorum, susisque, digessit G. A. L. Henschel; seguuntur Glossarium gallicum, Tabulæ, Indices auctorum et rerum, Dissertationes.
Editio nova, aucta pluribus verbis aliorum scriptorum a Léopold Favre... Nouveau tirage. In 10 volumes.
Paris: Librarie de sciences et des arts, 1937-1938.

The first edition appeared in 1678. Other editions are Graz: Akademische Druck-U. Verlagsanstalt, 1954, and Niort: L. Favre, 1883-87.

Friedrich Otto Hultsch.
Metrologicorum scriptorium reliquiae, collegit, recensuit, partim nunc primum edidit Fridericus Hultsch.
In 2 volumes.
1864/1866.

Reprinted 1971 by B. G. Teubner, Stuttgart.

In Russian

L. V. Cherepnin.
Russkaia metrologiia.
Moscow, 1944.

In Spanish

Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Secretaria de la Economia Nacional. Direccion General de Estadistica.
Medidas-Regionales. Censo Agricola Ganadero de 1930.
Mexico, D.F.: 1933.

Víctor M. Castillo F.
Unidades Nahuas de medida.
Estudios de cultura Nāhuatl, vol. 10, pages 195-223 (1972).

Luis E. Paez Courvel.
Historia de las Medidas Agrarias Antiguas.
Bogota: Libreria Voluntad, S. A., 1940.

Fray Alonso de Molina.
Vocabulario en lengua Mexicana y Castellana, compuesto por el muy Reverendo Padre Fray Alonso de Molina, dela Orden del bienauenturado nuestro Padre sant Francisco.
Mexico [City]: en casa de Antonio de Spinosa, 1571.

Reprint: Editorial Porrua, S. A., 1977, 2nd edition.

Cecilio A. Robelo.
Diccionario de Pesas y Medidas Mexicanas, antiguas y modernas, y su conversion, Para uso de los Comerciantes y de las familias.
Cuernavaca: Imprenta Cuauhnahuac, 1908.

Reprinted in facsimile in 1997 by Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social, Tlalpan, DF.

D. Felipe Senillosa.
Memoria sobre los pesos y medidas.
Buenos Aires: Imprenta de Hallet y Ca., 1835.

Reprinted in 2003 by the Provincia de Buenos Aires, Instituto Cultural.

In Swedish

Albert W. Carlsson.
Med, Mått, Mätt. Svenska och utländska matt genom tiderna.
Stockholm: LTs förlag, 1989.

Karl Lindstedt.
Svenska meterboken. 2nd edition.
Stockholm: Aktieb. Hiertas bokförlag, circa 1888.

The first (1883) edition is available on the web, thanks to Katarina Sohlborg: www.thorsaker.se/diverse/vikter.htm

Mats Morell.
Om mått- och viktsystemens utveckling i Sverige sedan 1500-talet : vikt- och rymdmått fram till metersystemets införande.
Uppsala University Papers in Economic History. No. 16.
Uppsala: Uppsala University, Humanistisk-samhällsvetenskaploiga vetenskapsområdet, 1988.

On the web at http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-2262 Accessed: 26 May 2007. Unfortunately, it is a PDF that has not been proofread after capture. Many annoying fragments of the page image remain, and a few minor errors have been introduced. But hey, it's free and available worldwide. Such a publication would be almost impossible to find without Uppsala's service.