James Peele
James Peele
James Peele (died 1585) described himself on the title page of his second book as ‘Citizen and Salter of London, Clerke of Christes Hospitall, practizer and teacher’ of the accounts of debitor and creditor.[1] He was also father of George Peele, poet and dramatist and writer of pageants for the City of London.[2] James Peele was most notable, however, for his two influential English works on double-entry bookkeeping.
In 1553, The Maner and fourme how to kepe a perfecte reconyng, after the order of...debitour and creditour, by James Peele, was printed in London by the King’s Printer, Richard Grafton. Grafton is credited by historians for introducing double-entry bookkeeping to England through the printing of Peele’s book.[3] Only one complete surviving copy of this work is known. It was discovered by the eminent historian Carl Peter Kheil of Prague and is now part of the historical accounting history collection at ICAEW. A second, incomplete and damaged copy is held in the British Library in London.[4] The book’s rarity has been explained by the likelihood that print runs were small and there is also evidence that the books were used as textbooks and handled intensively.[5] Influenced by Luca Pacioli and his Summa de arithmetica, Peele’s Maner and fourme is the first extant original work on bookkeeping in English. The very first English work on bookkeeping was Hugh Oldcastle's Here ensueth a profitable treatyce, printed in 1543, which is no longer extant. Peele's 1553 work was far more influential than Oldcastle's in translating Pacioli's ideas into English.[6]
Peele’s second book, The Pathe Waye to Perfectnes, in th'accomptes of Debitour, and Creditour (London, 1569) takes the form of two Socratic dialogues, the first between a teacher and a merchant, and the second between the teacher and the merchant’s apprentice.[7] The Pathe Waye to Perfectnes is a much more ambitious and elaborate book than the Maner and fourme. Its illustrative account books suggest a much more complex business, with nearly three times as many transactions as included in the first work. There are also references to numerous English towns and professions and examples of extensive foreign trading.[8] The level of sophistication in content and the Socratic dialogic approach suggest Peele's self-promotion as a humanist scholar and intellectual.[9]
The influence of Pacioli and other early writers on bookkeeping can be seen in Peele's works, but he was innovative and went further, including several enhancements to what had gone before, providing clear examples, techniques for transferring ledger balances from old to new account books, and methods to help merchants keep aspects of accounts secret from their employees.[10] Peele’s works also influenced later authors on bookkeeping – John Mellis drew heavily on them as did John Carpenter. John Weddington and Richard Dafforne reveal that they had read Peele’s Maner and fourme.[7]
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- ↑ Peele, James (1569). The Pathe waye to perfectnes in th'accomptes of debitour and creditour. London: Thomas Purfoote. Search this book on
- ↑ Horne, David Hamilton (1952). The life and minor works of George Peele. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 14. Search this book on
- ↑ Paris, Dubravka (2016). "History of accounting and accountancy profession in Great Britain". Journal of Accounting and Management. Volume 6, Number 1: 33–44.
- ↑ Kats, P. (11 January 1930). "James Peele's "Maner and fourme"". The Accountant. 82: 41–44.
- ↑ Gordon, Cosmo (July 1954). "The first English books on book-keeping". Accounting Research. 5: 215–218.
- ↑ Davies, Glyn (2010). A history of money from ancient times to the present day. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 235. ISBN 978-0708317174. Search this book on
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chatfield, Michael; Vangermeersch, Richard (2014). The history of accounting: an international encyclopedia. New York and London: Garland Publishing. pp. 455–456. ISBN 9781138997905. Search this book on
- ↑ Kojima, Osamu, "James Peele and his works." In The pathe waye to perfectnes in the accomptes of debitour and creditour : in manner of a dialogue. Kyoto: Daigakudo Books, 1979.
- ↑ Tomlin, Rebecca (2016). "Sixteenth-century humanism, printing and authorial self-fashioning: the case of James Peele". Journal of the Northern Renaissance. 6: 1–23.
- ↑ Bywater, M.F.; Yamey, B.S. (1982). Historic accounting literature: a companion guide. London: Scolar Press. pp. 51–53. ISBN 0859676471. Search this book on
