In this volume are collected those of Ruskin's writings which were devoted exclusively to Political Economy. They range from the year 1860 to 1867. The Political Economy of Art, belonging to an earlier date (1857), has already been given in Volume XVI. The miscellany which he called Fors Clavigera is also concerned in large measure with Political Economy, but this belongs to a later date (1871 onwards), and treats moreover de omnibus rebus, et quibusdam aliis. The pieces here collected are:—

(I.) Unto this Last. The volume, so entitled and published in 1862, consists of four essays which appeared in the Cornhill Magazine for August, September, October, and November 1860.

(II.) Munera Pulveris. This work, though not published as a book until 1872, was written ten years earlier, and originally appeared in Fraser's Magazine for June, September, and December 1862, and April 1863.

(III.) Time and Tide. This book was published in 1867, being a collection of letters which had appeared in newspapers earlier in that year. Time and Tide thus belongs to a later period than the other books, and its inclusion here puts it somewhat out of its chronological order; for in the next volume we shall be concerned with Ruskin's productions in 1864–1866. But the inclusion of the third treatise on Political Economy, in the same volume with Unto this Last and Munera Pulveris, is required by the subject-matter.