Reviewed by William Baxter The London School of Economics, University of London

This book (Karvstocken – en förbisedd kulturbarare) is in Finnish, but it has an English summary, and its 38 photographs speak for themselves. Its author is professor of accounting at Abo Akademi, Finland. He gives us a clear account of the tally’s history, forms, and widespread uses.

The oldest surviving tally (he tells us) was unearthed in a Schles-wig village, and has been dated c. 750 A.D. But tallies had impor¬tant functions long before then. Tacitus mentions them in his book on the Germans. By the second century, they played a big role in tax collection; the word for “tax” in Italian, Spanish and French (la taille) is firmly linked with “tally.” And Professor Grandell spec¬ulates on whether the notches on tallies may not have given rise to the Roman numerals, and to the Runic symbols.
He divides tallies into four physical types;

(1) Simple — a stock that remains undivided.

(2) Double — the familiar form that was notched and then split in to two bits, to record transactions between two par¬ties. The exchequer in London raised loans against tallies till 1826; the bit kept by the lender was the “stock” (and so we get “common stock,” etc.).

(3) Triple — used in the transport of goods (one part for the sender, one for the carrier, and one for the recip¬ient).

(4) Forked — “the achievement par excellence of tally technology.” The original stick was cunningly cut into two parts, each with two forks; thus there were in effect four pieces, which dovetailed together. This type was still used in 1922 to record deliveries of wood to Professor Grandell’s college.

We are apt to remember tallies only as aids to reckoning, but they served illiterate society in many other ways. They were used by village chiefs to record fines; when the delinquent paid, the chief cut out the notches. Carved tallies acted as symbols of office, and as identification badges for messengers. Some tallies were close

kin to magic wands: thus they were used by fortune-tellers to pre¬dict the future, and served as dice when lots were drawn. They were widely employed by villagers to show whose turn it was to perform social duties, such as clearing the roads of snow, caring for the sick, and giving accommodation to paupers. One tally of this kind (at Rusko, Finland) tells which household is responsible for organising bible reading meetings; it dates from the eighteenth century, and is still in use.

Professor Grandell has put us deeply into his debt with this con¬cise description of a half-forgotten but important device.