of course, chapter 7 in Schumpeter is still useful

but there is some references there :

  Heckscher, Mercantilism
B. F. Haley
The Quarterly Journal of Economics
Vol. 50, No. 2 (Feb., 1936), pp. 347-354

Heckscher's book has been reprinted with a new introduction by Lars 
Magnusson in 1994 (Routledge)

Lars Magnusson writes :

> Mercantilism as a system of unification was first propounded by
> Gustav Schmoller, in his essay, famous in his own day, Das
> Merkantilsystem in seiner historischen Bedeutung (in his Jahrbuch 1884).
> He states in one passage, which cannot be said to be free from
> obscurity, that mercantilism "at its very core is nothing other
> than state-formation (Staatsbildung)—but not state-formation in
> itself but simultaneously the building up of the state and the
> economic system—state-formation in the modern sense of the
> word, to make the community that forms the state into an
> economic society and so to give it increased importance". The
> essence of mercantilist policy he defines in much clearer terms as
> consisting "in the total reconstruction of society and its organization,
> as well as of the state and its institutions, by substituting for
> the local and provincial economic policy that of the state and the
> nation".

Cunningham is another candidate but despite Lars Magnusson wrote :

> Mercantilism as a system of power was expounded primarily
> by William Cunningham in The Growth of English Industry and
> Commerce, which first appeared in 1882 but went through many
> later editions.

I could not find the word in the 1892 edition available on archive.org 
(the index includes a lot of mercantile system) therefore I am afraid 
that G. Schmoller could be the "coiner" if we are to follow his 
definition and distinguish mercantilism from mercantile system

Best

A.





Le 20/07/2017 à 04:56, Jérôme Lange a écrit :
> Dear all,
>
> This had been in the back of my mind for a long time. I thought it was 
> common knowledge, but asking around a bit revealed it was not. So now 
> trying this wider channel.
>
> I'm not talking of Smith's "mercantile system/system of commerce", 
> which appeared earlier in Physiocratic writing, but the actual term 
> "mercantilism" (or Merkantilismus, mercantilisme). I often read/heard 
> it was coined first in German by the Historical School, but never with 
> a personal attribution or reference.
>
> Calling on your erudition.
>
> Best regards,
> Jérôme