The idea of an industrial revolution has frequently been challenged during the last decades. The commodity production which took place in the countryside and within the frame of the household is now being regarded as an important precursor of industry in the proper sense of the word. Thus, it would appear more apt to talk about an industrial evolution, at least in some cases.

This volume presents a contribution to the international debate on early commodity production or protoindustrialisation. Contrary to what has often been the case, it does not deal with the textile trades but with the heavy branches of industry: the production of iron. Moreover, the focus is upon two countries which were somewhat peripheral from the point of view of Western Europe and hence less well-known in current research on these matters: Sweden and Russia in the period 1600-1900.

The comparative approach allows the contributors to divulge many interesting differences and similarities that have not been elaborated previously. In the concluding section, some preliminary hypotheses concerning the prerequisites of industrialisation are formulated, hypotheses that could be valid not only for these countries but for Europe in general.

The authors are historians and economic historians from the university of Uppsala (Sweden) and from the institute of history and archeology in Ekaterinburg (Russia).