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This volume contains the double-entry bookkeeping records of a merchant based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1849. The unidentified merchant sold a variety of goods to customers in and around Ann Arbor, Pittsfield, Whitmore Lake, Webster, and Hamburg, Michigan.

This volume (8" x 12", 145 pages) contains the double-entry bookkeeping records of a merchant based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1849. The unidentified merchant sold a variety of goods to customers in and around Ann Arbor, Pittsfield, Whitmore Lake, Webster, and Hamburg, Michigan. Most pages contain running accounts for specific individuals, with debits and credits noted in two columns. Notes along the margins of many pages indicate the customer's specific location in eastern Washtenaw County or southern Livingston County.

Though the merchant most often recorded sales of "sundries," the accounts occasionally specify items such as hats, shoes, coffee, ribbon, a broom, and sugar. Occasionally, he paid for errors made in previous bills. Customers paid in cash or in kind, most frequently with foodstuffs or items of clothing and sometimes with more unusual items, including a horse and buggy (p. 14). One note concerns a boarder named Carpenter who moved into a home in late August 1849 (p. 97). Though the merchant most frequently dealt with men, the ledger documents accounts with a few women and several firms. A fragment from a letter to Charles W. Butler concerning unsold land, dated January 19, 1833, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is laid into the volume between pages 144 and 145.

The William Eighinger ledger contains two sections: a ledger kept by a Baltimore shipping merchant between 1798 and 1801 and math problems and copied compositions compiled by George Eighinger in 1850. The accounts pertain to the shipment of goods between North America, the Caribbean, and Germany, and the copied material includes a narrative told from the point of view of a slave.

This volume contains 2 sections: a ledger kept by a Baltimore shipping merchant between 1798 and 1801 (about 105 pages) and math problems and copied compositions compiled by George Eighinger in 1850 (5 pages).

The financial records intermittently cover the period from October 1, 1798, to June 24, 1801, on pages numbered 47-144 and 188-211; some pages have been torn from the book. The accounts concern the affairs of a Baltimore shipping merchant who imported linens and other items from Europe while exporting coffee, tobacco, sugar, and other goods to Bremen, Hamburg, and other German ports. Each entry reflects a transaction with a merchant, and the ledger often records the names of the ships carrying the cargo, as well as inventories, prices, the names of shipmasters, and consignment agents' marks. The ledger occasionally includes costs of storage or insurance. On December 31, 1799, the bookkeeper recorded "postage of 1798 & 1799" (pp. 131-133). Cartoonish drawings illustrate a few pages throughout the accounts (e.g. pages 93 and 239).

The pages numbered 235-239 contain arithmetic problems, copied prose, and cartoons by George Eighinger, who received the book from Nash G. Camp on March 4, 1850. The pages, which are labeled "Compound Subtraction" and "Compound Addition," include a narrative told from the point of view of a slave (p. 235).