Reviewed by O. Ronald Gray The University of West Florida
This book is another in “The Development of Contemporary Ac-counting Thought” series published by the Arno Press. The book is a reprint of Gerard van de Linde’s autobiography which was first published in 1917. Van de Linde was one of the original members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and was a prominent member of the English accounting profession during the latter part of the 19th century and the early years of this century.
Van de Linde recounts his life story in thirty chapters. Several of the later chapters consist of three pages or less. The events are presented in chronological order from the year of Van de Linde’s birth in 1840 to 1916. However, the presentation is encumbered by numerous allusions to events and occurrences which happened either before or after the period being discussed. The book has a remarkable amount of minutiae about Van de Linde’s travels and at times reads more like a travelogue than an autobiography. Van de Linde included in his book such superflous details as the fare schedule for taxis in Palermo, Italy in 1901, the complete verse to “Auld Lang Syne”, verses from Act V, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a chronological list of master-builders at the government shipyard at Bombay, India (1735-1867), as well as complete itineraries for all his travels through England, Scotland, Ireland, Western Europe, Egypt, America, Cuba, and India. Invariably, Van de Linde described the manner of his transportation, including the taxi driver’s name in some instances, the cost of transportation and whether he considered it worthy transport. In addition, Van de Linde commented on the quality of his lodgings and provided his dinner menu with a judgment as to its cost and quality.
There is remarkably little discussion of Van de Linde’s accounting practice. In contrast to the gratuitous detail provided about his travels, there is precious little substance when Van de Linde’s busi-ness affairs are mentioned. Nothing in this book would support an assertion that Van de Linde made any contribution to the development of contemporary accounting thought, and from an accounting historian’s perspective, he is of little or no interest. It is un-fortunate that this autobiography was not allowed to fade into oblivion.
