Bringing the Edition of Ricardo's Works to Completion: The Making of the General Index, 1951-73

The paper documents the gestation of the General Index to Piero Sraffa's edition of The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo. The available documents suggest that Sraffa made every effort to bring the editorial task he had been entrusted with to completion without sacrificing his standards of precision. They also show that he had good reasons for rejecting earlier versions of the General Index.