in this work. It has been described as the first major work to contain statistical graphs. Playfair's Statistical Breviary, published in London in 1801, contains what is generally credited as the first pie chart. From 1809 until 1811, he published the massive "British Family Antiquity, Illustrative of the Origin and Progress of the Rank, honours and personal merit of the nobility of the United Kingdom. Accompanied with an Elegant Set of Chronological Charts." The work was 9 large volumes in 11 parts; Volume six contained a suite of 12 plates of which 10 are in two states, coloured and uncoloured, and 9 large folding tables, partly hand coloured. This was an important work on genealogy published in a very limited edition. In it, Playfair sought to show the true character and heroism of the British nobility and that the Monarchy, particularly the British Monarchy, is the true defender of liberty. The volumes are separated into the peerage and baronetage of England, Scotland and Ireland. Counterfeiting operation In 1793 Playfair as secret agent devised a clandestine plan that he presented to Henry Dundas, who was Home Secretary soon to become Britain's Secretary of State for War. Playfair proposed to "fabricate one hundred millions of assignats (the French currency) and spread them in France by every means in my power." He saw the counterfeiting plan as the lesser of two evils: "That there are two ways of combatting the French nation the forces of which are measured by men and money. Their assignats are their money and it is better to destroy this paper founded upon an iniquitous extortion and a villainous deception than to shed the blood of men." Playfair forged the assignats at Haughton Castle in Northumberland and distributed them according to an elaborate plan. The plan apparently worked: by 1795 the French assignat had become worthless and the ensuing chaos undermined the French government. Playfair never told anyone about the operation. Playfair cycle The following quotation, known as the "Playfair cycle," has achieved notoriety as it pertains to the "Tytler cycle": Works 1785. The Increase of Manufactures, Commerce, and Finance, with the Extension of Civil Liberty, Proposed in Regulations for the Interest of Money. London: G.J. & J. Robinson. 1786. The Commercial and Political Atlas: Representing, by Means of Stained Copper-Plate Charts, the Progress of the Commerce, Revenues, Expenditure and Debts of England during the Whole of the Eighteenth