The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company [Hardcover]

John Keay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1991

A history of the English East India Company.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For 213 years, beginning around 1700, the "incorrigible pioneering" of merchant traders of the East India Company furthered the "peculiarly diffuse character" of the British Empire. British author Keay tells an ambitious story with sweep and brio, encompassing the company's origins as a "bane of bedraggled pioneers" in search of spices in the remote Indonesian archipelago; its role in the 1690 founding of Calcutta (an episode of "commercial greed and political mayhem"); and the opening up of China in 1700, which was to become the company's most profitable trade. Keay not only portays some of the adventurers and potentates who encountered one another but also grasps the details of trade, some more momentous than others: one missive from London to India mixed declarations of war with Spain and complaints about a bar bill. The company's monopoly charter was eventually broken not by rival traders but by British manufacturers wanting more overseas outlets for their products. If, as Keay notes, there are "enough incomplete histories of the Company to justify a health warning," then this book is a salubrious contribution. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Conventional wisdom has it that the commercial imperialism of the early English trading companies was intertwined with the political imperialism of the expanding British empire. In this reexamination of the English East India Company, Keay, an author and broadcaster specializing in Asian history, acknowledges that "but for the Company there would have been not only no British India but also no global British Empire." But he also shows that the triumph of imperialism helped bring about the downfall of the company by eliminating its monopolies and creating conditions for the 1857 Indian mutiny. Keay's title is intentionally ironic; he reports, "venal and disreputable, [the company's] servants were believed to have betrayed their race by begetting a half caste tribe of Anglo-Indians, and their nation by corrupt government and extortionate trade." Published two years ago in Britain and cited as one of that year's three best books by the Financial Times (London), The Honourable Company fascinatingly illuminates one of the lesser-known chapters of Asian history. David Rouse --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 488 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (July 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0002175150
• ISBN-13: 978-0002175159
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,255,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but Flawed, September 28, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Orion Nebula) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company (Hardcover)

The Honorable Company is an interesting, but flawed book.

I found the subject interesting, because it showed the evolution of a commercial enterprise into economic imperialism. The book also includes helpful maps.

However, I find fault in the presentation because it did not include a better analysis of the effects of the trade patterns and technology on the Company's business over time. Instead, the book was written more in the "name dropper" school of history. Almost as many questions arise from reading the book as were answered.

For example, vast sums were being made on voyages. What did a pound sterling buy? Were the amounts quoted in the book of current value or then value? What were the characteristics of the frigates and Indiamen plying the eastern trade routes? Charts showing tonnage overtime and sailing's would have been appreciated.

This book unsuccessfully attempts to many views of the Company at once. Unfortunately, it does it by listing hundreds of names. The policies of Clive and Hastings get almost as many words as an often widowed factor's daughter. I might recommend this book as a supplement to readers interested in economic history, but not as a primary source.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but Flawed, October 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company (Hardcover)

The Honorable Company is an interesting, but flawed book.

I found the subject interesting, because it showed the evolution of a commercial enterprise into economic imperialism. The book also includes helpful maps.

However, I find fault in the presentation because it did not include a better analysis of the effects of the trade patterns and technology on the Company's business over time. Instead, the book was written more in the "name dropper" school of history. Almost as many questions arise from reading the book as were answered.

For example, vast sums were being made on voyages. What did a pound sterling buy? Were the amounts quoted in the book of current value or then value? What were the characteristics of the frigates and Indiamen plying the eastern trade routes? Charts showing tonnage overtime and sailing's would have been appreciated.

This book unsuccessfully attempts to many views of the Company at once. Unfortunately, it does it by listing hundreds of names. The policies of Clive and Hastings get almost as many words as an often widowed factor's daughter. I might recommend this book as a supplement to readers interested in economic history, but not as a primary source.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The embryonic basis of the English Speaking Empire - PERIOD., September 18, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (London, England . . . where else?) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company (Hardcover)

This book beautifully reveals the nucleus of all that is present day England, and illustrates the basis of the English Empire and the export of that philosophy to the USA. In short, this book exposes the foundations of modern day Anglo-Saxon economic imperialism. This is where it ALL started. From here you can go on to the books by Peter C Newman about the Hudson Bay Company, and more close to home, and equally fascinating, a whole series of books about the Great Game and Central Asia by Peter Hopkirk. From there..."Empires of the Monsoon" is great reading as is Younghusband and Rice's Burton. From here you have a great series of books to read - but start with Keay's masterpiece. You'll say - why havent I heard of this before. . . . .