William Playfair and the invention of statistical graphs

Abstract

In 1786 William Playfair published The commercial and political atlas. Unlike conventional atlases, the volume contained no maps but it did contain charts of a novel and unfamiliar variety. The Atlas contained several tables and 44 charts summarizing trade between England and other countries. The use of tables to present economic data was not new, having been common for more than a century aer John Graunt (1620-1674), who had used them extensively in his Natural and political observations made upon the bills of mortality, and Sir William Petty (1623-1687), who had examined the role of the state in the economy in his Treatise on taxes and contributions; coincidentally, both books were published in 1662. But Playfair’s pictorial representation of economic data was revolutionary.