ABSTRACT
At his death in 1744 at or around age sixty, William Webster of “Castle-Street, near Leicesterfields” in London was remembered as "a noted writing master and accomptant". He had for some years kept a boarding school at his home, teaching arithmetic, writing, and bookkeeping. The eighth numbered edition of Webster’s text An essay on book-keeping appeared the year he died, and through 1772 seven more of them were published, in London like their predecessors. Webster’s Essay is of present interest because of a pamphlet that was appended to it from the beginning, namely, the author’s treatise on business education reprinted below in its third edition. Between 1719 and “79, Webster’s Essay on book-keeping appeared in unnumbered editions three times in Dublin, twice in Glasgow, and once in Newcastle.
