(Dutch) *Pioneers of Capitalism*

The subtitle is The Netherlands 1000-1800, and the authors are Maarten Prak and Jan Luiten van Zanden.  An excellent book, here is one excerpt:

…between 1454 and 1500 the Netherlands appears to have printed more than double the European average number of books, with the Hanseatic town of Deventer as the most important center of this new industry.  In the sixteenth century, book printing in the Low Countries was originally concentrated in Antwerp, but after 1585 production in the northern Netherlands skyrocketed, reaching an average per capita output that was consistently three to more than four times that of Europe as a whole.  During the seventeenth century, Holland became the “bookshop of the world.”  Exports of books were important, but the domestic demand for print was equally large.

You can buy it here.