ECONOMISTS’ PAPERS
Series One: The Papers of William Stanley Jevons, 1835-1882, from the John Rylands University Library of Manchester

The aim of this project is to provide original manuscripts and papers of individual economists and organisations of note in the development of economic theory, history and science in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In choosing particular economists or organisations to cover we will avoid material covered by comprehensive printed editions. We have chosen the Jevons Papers as an excellent beginning to this new endeavour.

"William Stanley Jevons has long been recognised as a leading figure in the development of economic thought... his papers enable the reader, for the first time, to see the workshop in which they were produced - the personal and public environment in which Jevons lived and the professional contacts and discussions he had, all of them contributing to shape his ideas... they afford an opportunity to study the formation of a mind and the making of a reputation - an opportunity which may have value not only to the student of Jevons’ economic work, but for all who are interested in the intellectual and academic life of the Mid-Victorian era"
Professor R D Collison Black
in his preface to the Papers and Correspondence of William Stanley Jevons, Vol I
(Macmillan 1972)

British Theorist and one of the chief architects of modern economics, William Stanley Jevons (1835-1882) is best known for his innovative thinking in The Theory of Political Economy (1871), his explanation of cyclical phenomena using statistical analysis, and his work on the development of the ‘marginal principle’, leading to his pioneering contributions to modern applied and mainstream economics.

Much of Jevons most important work and intense original thought came to fruition in a five year period in Australia,1853-1858. Keynes comments "The last third of Jevons’ life after his was thirty (Jevons died early, aged only 46) was mainly devoted to the elucidation and amplification of what in essence he had already discovered".

Jevons first elaborated his new system of theoretical political economy in a paper as early as 1862.

In addition to his spectacular achievements, he published numerous books on economics and logic, and also had a profound influence on popular understanding of a whole range of other subjects, including scientific method and principles, coal, banking and finance.

The John Rylands collection of Jevons’ Papers features:

Family Correspondence and Papers, c1760-c1910

Letters, over 600 to William Stanley Jevons, 180 from family and relations, but most from academics about Jevons’ work in Logic and Philosophy and other interdisciplinary work. Chief correspondents include Alfred Marshall, John Elliott Cairnes, John Stuart Mill, James Martineau, Herbert Spencer, Hugh McColl, Charles Babbage, Walter Bagehot, George Bentham, George Boole, John Bright, Rev William B Clarke, Sir Charles W Fremantle, Sir Francis Galton, William Gladstone, W B Grove, Robert Harley, Sir John Herschel, Thomas Leslie, John Venn and Lon Wlaras.

Diaries and Notebooks, 1845-1862 are full of material on his career in Australia. His original photographs also provide a vivid record of this period.

Writings, Notes and Research Materials. Subject files arranged in the following categories

Logic
Political Economy - general
Political Economy - specific subjects in alphabetical order
Banks and Banking
Capital
Coal
Credit
Currency, Money, Bullion, Precious Metals
Industrial Development
Iron and Steel Trade and Manufacture
Land
Property
Railways
Rent
Shipping and Shipbuilding
Speculation
Stock Exchange
Solar Influence on Commerce and ‘Sunspot Theory’
Taxation
Trade and Commerce
Trades and Occupations in London
Wages
Wealth

Natural Sciences - specific subjects in alphabetical order
Astronomy
Australian Gold Fields
Inventions and Patents
Mathematics and Statistics
Meteorology
Physics and Chemistry
Steam Engines

Social Science Topics - in alphabetical order
Drunkenness, Temperance
Family Budgeting
Human Nature, Human Development, Evolution
Industrial Legislation
Infant Mortality
Infant Welfare
Labour
Law
Libraries
Population
Statistics
Women in Factories
Women with Children
Women’s Labour

Documents on Jevons’ Career, His Work and Obituary Material

Roscoe and other family papers, including holiday diaries, and photographs, watercolours of Bay Lodge, drawings and maps, c1845-1941

Above all, the collection features a great mass of rough notes and manuscript drafts on a vast range of subjects. There is an absolute wealth of material not covered by the standard edition by Professor R D Collison Black and Mrs Knekamp (MacMillan 1972-81. 7 vols). This unpublished material is now to be found in abundance in this comprehensive microfilm edition of The Jevons Collection.

The Hand-list to the Jevons Archives in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, compiled by Peter McNiven, is reproduced on the first reel of this microfilm collection. With the kind permission of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester this Hand-list is also included in the paperback guide. This is an important source for Economic History, the History of Economic Thought and Victorian Studies. There is also material of interest to the History of Science and Technology.