The Age of Paper

In the first detailed examination of Britain's transition to paper currency, Hiroki Shin explores how state, nation and community played a role in its introduction. He demonstrates how paper money derived its value from the community of users, highlighting the social and cultural factors that accelerated the use of the Bank of England note.

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In the first detailed examination of Britain's transition to paper currency, Hiroki Shin explores how state, nation and community each played their respective role in its introduction. By examining archival materials and personal accounts, Shin's work sheds fresh light on societal, institutional, communal and individual responses to the transformation. The dominance of communal currency during the Bank Restriction period (1797–1821) demonstrates how paper currency derived its value from the community of users rather than the state or the intrinsic value of precious metal. Shin traces the expanded use of the Bank of England note – both geographically and socially – in this period, revealing the economic and social factors that accelerated this shift and the cultural manifestations of the paper-based monetary regime, from everyday politics to bank-note forgeries. This book serves as an essential resource for those interested in understanding the modern monetary system's historical origins.