Abstract
A sample of merchant letters is used to measure the speed and reliability of information transmission at the end of the preindustrial era. Some previous informal studies suggested no improvements in information transmission in this period. The present study confirms this opinion. Considering technological capabilities, the communication between the major North and Baltic Sea region commercial centers was already relatively fast and remarkably regular in the 1750s and did not improve until the 1820s. The speed and reliability of transmission was limited on maritime postal routes, and by an inability to integrate the smaller trading centers into the national postal service network.
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