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[DEFOE, Daniel, editor (1659?-1731).] Mercurius politicus. London: T. Bickerton, 1720.
A very rare monthly newspaper with contemporary accounts of the South Sea Bubble, the world's first great financial scandal. No copy is recorded having been offered at auction in the past 40 years (ABPC/RBH).
8vo (185 x 116mm). Contemporary panelled calf (extremities rubbed). Provenance: R.G.E. Sandbach (bookplate).
The novelist and pamphleteer Daniel Defoe had first-hand experience of some of the investment schemes that mushroomed in England at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. He invested - and lost - £200 in a diving firm tasked with salvaging Spanish silver and precious jewels from the seabed of the Caribbean. Defoe's other investments included a brick and tile factory, as well as 70 civet cats, who were bred for the secretion of their glands which was a basic essence in the manufacture of perfume. Defoe himself became a champion of the South Sea Company, founded on 10 September 1711, believing the establishment of a trading company could unlock the riches of South America. In reality, the Company never effectively traded, but John Blunt (bap.1665-1733), founder of the Company, proposed in 1719 that the Company could fund the national debt by issuing stock. This led to a dangerous auction whereby the Company outbid the Bank of England by offering the government the fantastic sum of £7½ million.
Because the Company had never effectively traded and had never generated any meaningful profits, Blunt was forced to rely on short-term manipulation of the market. By a series of alternating money subscriptions and loans, and helped by the failure of the French Mississippi Company which drove the speculators' market to London, Blunt had by 4 August 1720 driven up the price of the stock and completed the conversion of the national debt into stock. However, even before this conversion was complete, some Company investors had started to cool, and the stock began to fall. Another manipulation by Blunt failed to stem the downwards trend, and the collapsing price led to a national disaster.
The present work contains not only contemporary reports on the South Sea Company situation, but also many other reports on alternative 'bubbles' or investment schemes. EXTREMELY RARE: NO COPY CAN BE TRACED AS SELLING AT AUCTION IN THE PAST 40 YEARS (ABPC/RBH). Moore 553.
A very rare monthly newspaper with contemporary accounts of the South Sea Bubble, the world's first great financial scandal. No copy is recorded having been offered at auction in the past 40 years (ABPC/RBH).
8vo (185 x 116mm). Contemporary panelled calf (extremities rubbed). Provenance: R.G.E. Sandbach (bookplate).
The novelist and pamphleteer Daniel Defoe had first-hand experience of some of the investment schemes that mushroomed in England at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. He invested - and lost - £200 in a diving firm tasked with salvaging Spanish silver and precious jewels from the seabed of the Caribbean. Defoe's other investments included a brick and tile factory, as well as 70 civet cats, who were bred for the secretion of their glands which was a basic essence in the manufacture of perfume. Defoe himself became a champion of the South Sea Company, founded on 10 September 1711, believing the establishment of a trading company could unlock the riches of South America. In reality, the Company never effectively traded, but John Blunt (bap.1665-1733), founder of the Company, proposed in 1719 that the Company could fund the national debt by issuing stock. This led to a dangerous auction whereby the Company outbid the Bank of England by offering the government the fantastic sum of £7½ million.
Because the Company had never effectively traded and had never generated any meaningful profits, Blunt was forced to rely on short-term manipulation of the market. By a series of alternating money subscriptions and loans, and helped by the failure of the French Mississippi Company which drove the speculators' market to London, Blunt had by 4 August 1720 driven up the price of the stock and completed the conversion of the national debt into stock. However, even before this conversion was complete, some Company investors had started to cool, and the stock began to fall. Another manipulation by Blunt failed to stem the downwards trend, and the collapsing price led to a national disaster.
The present work contains not only contemporary reports on the South Sea Company situation, but also many other reports on alternative 'bubbles' or investment schemes. EXTREMELY RARE: NO COPY CAN BE TRACED AS SELLING AT AUCTION IN THE PAST 40 YEARS (ABPC/RBH). Moore 553.
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