Letterbook of Greg & Cunningham, 1756-57

The correspondence from the most successful Irish-American trading firm of the colonial period forms a remarkable archive for economic historians of the eighteenth century.

This is an edition of a letterbook that contains the first nine months of correspondence from this New York trading house. The letters to commercial contacts throughout the North Atlantic region offer a vivid picture of the transatlantic economy. And the private communications of Waddell Cunningham to his partner, Thomas Greg in Belfast, allow a rare behind-the-scenes look at the management and operation of an overseas merchant house.

Guided by Professor Truxes's authoritative introduction, we can see in these letters the difficulties of decision-making over long distances, the problems of over-stretched resources, and the impact of the Seven Years War on the evolution of a vigorous enterprise.