Money and Exchange in Canada to 1900

Dean Tudor is a journalism professor at the Ryerson Polytechnical
Institute and founding editor of the CBRA.

Co-published with the Canadian government, this book was originally prepared as a guide both to interpreters at national historic parks and to researchers working with pre-twentieth century documents in this area. Thus, it should be of value to collectors of money and coins from 1600 to 1900. It does not deal with prices and relative values, although it does have about 43 tables, most of which are columns of ratings of coins and the values at the time of their production, particularly in terms of other currencies. The introduction covers definitions and explains livres, pounds, playing cards, louis d’ors, eagles, shillings, and dollars. The survey covers time and geographic areas such as New France, Central Canada, Maritimes, Newfoundland, and the West. As with any scholarly work, there is extensive footnoting, and there are 97 black-and-white photographs of coins and bills. But the index is not detailed enough for a work of this sort. Still, this is a valuable contribution that adds much to Canadian history, and it should probably be on many public library shelves.