First Monograph Prize in Economic and/or Social History

The Economic History Society awards a prize of £1,000, on a biennial basis, for the best first monograph in Economic and/or Social History. Eligibility for the prize is normally restricted to books published within 10 years of the author having been awarded a PhD, although allowances can be made for authors who have had a career break (e.g. for parental leave).

Only monographs published in English and published during 2024 and 2025 will be eligible for the 2026 prize.

A copy of the author’s full CV, which should include a current email address, and three copies of the book under consideration must be submitted with the application.  The books cannot be returned to the author.

The winner of the First Monograph Prize will be announced at the annual conference.

Nominations, from any member of the Economic History Society, should be sent to the Administrators. The deadline for applications is: 30 September 2025.  Books published by 31 December 2025 will be eligible for consideration, however, the nomination must be received by the 30 September deadline.

Books should please be mailed to:

Dr Alice Whiteoak
Administrator
Economic History Society
c/o Department of History, Larkin Building
Faculty of Arts, Cultures and Education
University of Hull
Hull   HU6 7RX
UK

• Current & Past Winners
  • 2024: Ghassan Moazzin (University of Hong Kong): ‘Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China: Banking on the Chinese Frontier, 1870-1919’ AND
    Maanik Nath (Utrecht University): ‘Capital Shortage: Credit and Indian Economic Development, 1920-1960’.
  • 2022: Jagjeet Lally (University College London): ‘India and the Silk Roads: The History of a Trading World’.
  • 2020: Amy Offner (University of Pennsylvania): ‘Sorting Out the Mixed Economy: The Rise and Fall of Welfare and Developmental States in the Americas’ AND
    Caitlin Rosenthal (UC, Berkeley): ‘Accounting for Slavery: Masters and Management’.
  • 2018: Johan Mathew (Rutgers University): ‘Margins of the Market: Trafficking and Capitalism across the Arabian Sea’.
  • 2016: Sean Bottomley (Université de Toulouse Capitol): ‘The British Patent System during the Industrial Revolution, 1700-1852’.
  • 2014: Sean Eddie ‘Freedom’s price: serfdom, subjection and reform in Prussia, 1648-1848’.
    
  • 2012: Tracy Dennison (California Institute of Technology)
    ‘The institutional framework of Russian serfdom’.
  • 2010: Anne Murphy (University of Hertfordshire) ‘The origins of English financial markets: investment and speculation before the South Sea Bubble AND
    Joyce Burnette (Wabash College) ‘Gender, work and wages in industrial revolution Britain’.
  • 2008: James Taylor (University of Lancaster) ‘Creating Capitalism: Joint-Stock Enterprise in British Politics and Culture, 1800-1870′.