This collection of original essays is a tribute to Donald Coleman, Emeritus Professor of Economic History in the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and formerly Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics. The essays are contributed by friends, former students and colleagues to honour him in his retirement. They range, as does Donald Coleman’s work itself, from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, and reflect, in other ways, his special talents and interests. Two particular themes are reflected in the essays: the operations of businessmen and business values in history, and the factors that shaped and influenced government policies.