Taking a broad chronological approach to the subject, this book provides readers with a cutting-edge overview of research into the varying attitudes towards work and its place in pre-Industrial society. This volume takes a fresh and innovative approach to the history of ideas of work, concerning perceptions, attitudes, cultures and representations of work throughout Antiquity and the medieval and early modern periods. Focusing on developments in Europe, the contributors approach the subject from a variety of angles, considering aspects of work as described in literature, visual culture, and as perceived in economic theory.

Contents: Preface; Introduction: Historical studies in perceptions of work, Catharina Lis and Josef Ehmer. Part 1 The Heritage of Antiquity: Perceptions of work in classical antiquity: a polyphonic heritage, Catharina Lis. Part 2 Work and Identities: Reading Renaissance merchants' handbooks: confronting professional ethics and social identity, Jaume Aurell; Lifting the curse: or why early modern worker autobiographers did not write about work, James S. Amelang; The attitude of Milanese society to work and commercial activities. The case of the porters and the case of the elites, Luca Mocarelli. Part 3 Representations of Work in Visual Images and in Literary Texts: The visual representation of late medieval work: patterns of context, people and action, Gerhard Jaritz; Representations of labour in late 16th-century Netherlandish prints: the secularization of the work ethic, Ilja M. Veldman; Representing women's work in early modern Italy, Peter Burke. Part 4 Perceptions of Work in Early Modern Theory: Perceptions of work in early modern economic thought. Dutch mercantilism and central European cameralism in comparative perspective, Thomas Buchner; Cultivating the landscape: the perception and description of work in 16th- to 18th-century German 'household literature' (Hausvÿterliteratur), Torsten Meyer; Advocating for artisans: the Abbé Pluche's Spectacle de la Nature (1732-51), Cynthia J. Koepp. Part 5 Perceptions of Work and Labour Practices: The making of wages and attitudes towards labour in the crafts in early modern Central Europe, Reinhold Reith; Perceptions of mobile labour and migratory practices in early modern Europe, Josef Ehmer. Part 6 Discussions and Comments: Work and identity of merchants and artisans in a larger context. Comment on Jaume Aurell and James S. Amelang, Hugo Soly; Representations of labour in visual images and literary texts. Comment on Gerhard Jaritz, Ilja M. Veldman and Cynthia J. Koepp, Keith Thomas; Discourse and practice, custom a