This newly discovered ledger, dated August 18, 1660, to March 16, 1661, was kept in person by Edward Backwell while acting as paymaster to both the Excise and the House of Commons. It carries an estimate of £20,000-40,000 at Bonhams’ Fine Books and Manuscripts sale in Knightsbridge on December 4.
Containing well over six hundred original acquittances for payments received, it sheds new light on the business of Backwell that was described by banking historian RD Richards as ‘undoubtedly both the central or reserve bank and the clearing house of the post-Restoration period’ and ‘the indispensable precursor of the Bank of England’.