[John Percival Day, Professor of Economics, McGill University, Montreal.] Six large notebooks, filled with autograph lectures on economic affairs and history, delivered at the Dundee School of Social Study and Training and McGill University, Montreal

A total of 1290 pages, in six 4to notebooks. Internally clean, on lightly aged paper, in worn and repaired bindings, with the back cover of one of the volumes loose. Day has signed three of the covers, and decorated the cover of one volume with the crests of three Universities: Montenegro, St Andrews and London. All the texts are carefully written out Day's neat, close hand, with tables and graphs, some titles in red ink, and occasional pencil annotations. A list of the contents of the six volumes ends this description. During the twenties and thirties Day was employed with the humorist Stephen Leacock in the Economics Department at McGill (its archives contain a caricature of him asleep, captioned 'Eminent Economist at work'). A notice of Day's death in London, printed in The Times, 31 March 1949, describes him as 'Emeritus Professor of Economics, McGill University, Montreal. D.Phil. St. Andrews. B.Sc. London'. He was the author of eight works between 1915 and 1939: Clackmannan and Kinross (Cambridge University Press, in the 'Cambridge County Geographies' series, 1915); Public Administration in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. (1918); The Jute Industry in Scotland during the War (1926); An Introduction to the Money and Banking System of the United States (1930); Seven Addresses on the Gold Standard (1931); The Dundee district (1932?); Considerations on the Demand for a Central Bank in Canada (1933); An Introduction to World Economic History since the Great War (1939). Day writes in a clear and entertaining style. He is a middle-of-the-road socialist, rejecting the 'hot headed wild men' of syndicalism. His position, as expounded in his course on the 'History of Economic Thought', delivered in Dundee in 1922-3 (vol.3 below), is that 'Socialism is a necessary stage in our economic development; not so much that it will bring great material benefits to anybody but that the experience of it will bring both classes of the business world into a better frame of mind, and will give both a clearer vision of their true interests.' At the end of the course he expresses a fundamental optimism: 'Perhaps in Dundee it may seem that after a great deal of effort of various kinds to get things better socially, not much has been accomplished: our bad housing, our low paid industry, our lack of work for men are still with us: deformity, drunkenness, & foul language common in our streets. But lifting our eyes from the place where we live, & where, mind you, improvements come under our notice so gradually that we often miss them, and looking out over the whole country, we do see a real change in many respects: a gain in kindliness & in the acceptance of the principle of mutual help: our hospitals & asylums, all the great benefits of modern town life [E. Journal March 1923 p. 87], our public health & factory legislation. All these things stand for a real swing in public opinion towards the need for curing & preventing social ills.' (See also Day's opinion on the Gold Standard, given inn an interview with the Montreal Gazette, 28 September 1931.) Several of the papers in the six volumes are followed by lists of works cited. A number of extraneous items are inserted. These range from newspaper cuttings to pages of notes (several on letterheads of the Faculty Club, McGill University). Printed items include a duplicated examination paper (by 'J. P. D.') for the Dundee School of Social Study and Training, dated 16 December 1920 (Volume One); the syllabus for a course given at the Dundee School of Social Study and Training (Volume Two): 'One Year Course at Broughty Ferry. | "Industrial and Social History of Great Britain from 1815."'. Loosely inserted in Volume Four is an examination paper ('Examiner - JOHN PERCIVAL DAY, B.A., B.Sc., D.Phil.') for the University of St Andrews, Dundee School of Social Study and Training. Volume Four also contains another examination paper (by 'J. P. D.'), dated 2 May 1922, for the Dundee Education Authority, Harris Academy Continuation Classes. The contents of the six volumes are as follows. ONE: 297pp., 4to. 'Dundee School of Social Study and Training. | Notes on Social Economics' (signed and dated by Day from 5 Roseangle Terrace, Dundee, September 1920). Index lists 41 headings, from 'The Nature of Economics' to 'Incidence of the Death Duties' and 'Marshall on the Nature of the National Dividend'. From the other end: '1920-21 | Workers Educational Association. Dundee. | Economics'. TWO: 284pp., 4to. 'Dundee School of Social Study and Training. Notes on Economic History' (signed and dated by Day from 5 Roseangle Terrace, Dundee, September 1920). From other end: '1924. | McGill University, Montreal. | Arts Course 5. | Money and Banking.' With index dividing the 'St Andrews' course into 26 parts, and the 'McGill' one into 13 parts (including 'Minimum Wage Experiences in British Columbia' and 'World Economic Conference Geneva 1927'). THREE: 162pp., 4to. 'Economics. The History of Economic Thought. Workers Educational Association | Dundee 1922-23.' From other end: 'McGill University Montreal | Nine Lectures to a Class of Insurance Students. | Lent Term 1924'; 'McGill University 1925. | Fourth Year Arts & Graduates | Economics 15. | Economic Factors in the Evolution of Society since 1800.'; 'Economics 22. General Survey [Course 22 Distribution General Survey]'; 'Cost of Living Index in Canada'; 'Saving Spending and Investment'; 'National Income'. FOUR: 291pp., 4to. '1920 Short Course' and 'McGill University Montreal. | 1923-24. | Course in the Department of Commerce. Third Year Students. Term. 1. M.W.F. 12-1 Room 112 | Elements of Political Science and Comparative National Government and Taxation, especially the Government and Taxation of Great Britain and the United States'. From the other end: 'Political Economy | A Course for the Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Final Examination.' FIVE: 186pp., 4to. '1924 | British Economic & Fiscal Problems. Arts Course 13. | McGill University Montreal. [divided into an 'Introductory Survey' and three 'Problems': 'Parliamentary Control of National Expenditure' (with eight subdivisions including 'The Select Committee on Estimates 1912' and 'The Report of the Select Committee on National Expenditure 1918'), 'How to meet the War Debt. The Capital Levy' (with four subdivisions) and a third divided into 'Trade Boards', 'Agriculture', 'Coal', 'Public Assistance' and 'National Health Insurance']. From other end: 'Japan: as a study in deductive reasoning'. '1924-25 Course in Applied Science Faculty | No 172 | Canadian Economic and Fiscal Problems' [including 'Mr Marler's Speech to the Canadian Club'; 'Pulp & Paper'; 'The Mineral Wealth of the Laurentian Plateau']; 'Freight Rates' SIX: 70pp., 4to. 'Economics 33 | McGill University. | Currency and Financial Systems of Pacific Countries | Montreal 1929'. Sections on Japan (in nine parts from 'Early Years 1873-1897' to 'The Crisis of 1927' and 'Recovery') and China (in ten parts from 'The Tael' to 'Conditions of Future Progress'). From other end: 'Money in the United States', 'Model Answer: Should selling price depend on wages or vice versa', 'League of Nations 1942 Three pamphlets on Int. Trade' and 'Roosevelt and Inflation'.