Since Henry Hobhouse wrote his story of five plants that changed the world, Seeds of Change, nearly 20 years ago, the history of commodities has become a fashionable literary genre. So he must rate as one of its pioneers. But unlike many of his imitators, he has not been content to make a whole book out of a single commodity, such as nutmeg or indigo. In the present work, which is a kind of long-delayed sequel to Seeds of Change, he deals with four – timber, wine, rubber and tobacco – thus giving value for money at least.
Or it may be that by writing an essay rather than a book on each he feels freer to pursue those aspects of the subjects that interest him most, ignoring others that he might have felt obliged to take on board had he been writing a whole book dedicated to a single subject.
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