----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Referring only to England, proficiency in the French language used to be much more common than it is today, so the language would have been less of a barrier. Though young economists would typically be told that they had to learn German rather than French, the view was widely held that an economist could not confine his or her knowledge to work written in English. Oxford and Cambridge retained a foreign language entry requirement for undergraduates at least till the 1960s. Robbins read widely in the continental literature. Hicks certainly read Pareto in Italian. So it may be wrong to assume that language was the barrier to reading Walras. I leave others to speak about the USA. One way to approach the problem would be to find out whether university libraries had copies of Walras's works, and if so when they were acquired. You mention Friedman. Chicago's online catalog shows that they have editions dating from before 1949, though it does not show the acquisition dates. Some libraries will no doubt have kept records of who borrowed the books and when. Roger Backhouse ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]