HUSKISSON, William (1770-1830), politician.

Autograph letter signed (‘W Huskisson’) to an unnamed ‘Dear Sir’.

18 Hertford Street [London], 21 December, 1810.

Huskisson was a leading exponent of strict adherence to the Gold standard and an opponent of the perceived over-issue of bank notes in the early nineteenth century. This letter was written only a few months after Huskisson had published his important pamphlet, The question concerning the depreciation...

£150

INGALL, Godefroi D., and George WITHERS.

The Stock Exchange.

London, Edward Arnold, 1904.

First edition of Ingall’s and Withers’ instructional overview of the Stock Exchange.

£100

JEVONS, William Stanley.

‘Preliminary account of certain logical inventions’, communicated March 19th, 1866 [in: Proceedings...

London, Longman …, Liverpool, Marples, 1867.

First edition of the account of Jevons’ communication on the ‘logical abacus’ and the ‘logical machine’, a precursor of his later ‘logical piano’. Jevons had experimented with different forms of teaching aids before creating his logical piano. On this occasion, early in his career, Jevons...

£350

JEVONS, William Stanley.

La moneta ed il meccanismo dello scambio.

Milan, Fratelli Dumolard, 1876.

First Italian edition of ‘a most readable volume’ (DNB), written quite late in Jevons’s life and published in English the previous year as part of The International Scientific Series. ‘In preparing this volume, I have attempted to write a descriptive essay on the past and present monetary systems...

£50

KING, John, barrister at law.

A Report of the Cases of the King v. Wright, and the King v. De Yonge, who were severally tried for...

Butterworth, and J. Cooke (Dublin), 1811.

?First edition. The question of forgeries, which were punishable by death, was an important one during the debates; it gave an argument to the bullionists.

£100

LAEMMEL, Rudolf.

Untersuchungen über die Ermittlung von Wahrscheinlichkeiten.

Zurich, Jean Frey, 1904.

The doctoral dissertation of Rudolf Laemmel, produced under the auspices of Burkhardt of Zurich, and the first attempt at founding probability theory on set theory and measure theory (the axiomatization of probability). The work discusses the rules of total and compound probability as axioms. The rule...

£250

[LAW, John.]

Abbildung des auf der Strasse Quincampoix in Paris entstandenen so berühmten Actien-Handel. Excudit C. Weigel nach...

[1720.]

This engraving is a German version of ‘Rue Quinquempoix en l'Année 1720’(BM Catalogue 1655). It gives a view, in angular perspective, of the Rue Quinquempoix, Paris, with crowds of persons assembled there during the share mania of the Mississippi, South Sea, and other schemes which bubbled in the...

£1250

[LONDON ASSURANCE CORPORATION.]

By-laws, orders, and rules, for the good government of the corporation of the London assurance....

London, [n.p.], 1722.

First edition of the by-laws of the London Assurance Corporation, which, along with The Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation, was constituted and granted sole rights, excepting private individuals, to the granting of assurance and bottomry by ‘The Bubble Act’ of 1720. The right to self-govern, reflected...

£550

LOWER RATES.

No. 7. Bankers cause War.

London, United ratepayers’ advisory association [1930s].

First and only edition. An authentic copy of the Fascist-sponsored newspaper ‘Lower Rates’, a rare survival from the heyday of Oswald Mosley. Under the headline ‘Bankers cause War’ we see bankers accused of creating all the problems of society, including war-mongering and creating artificial credit.

£130

[MABBUT, George].

Sir Isaac Newton’s tables for renewing and purchasing the leases of cathedral-churches and colleges, according...

London, printed for Thomas Astley, 1742

Sixth edition, first published in 1686, this issue was sometimes also published with a separate title page and imprint reading, ‘The money’d man’s pocket-book’, London, 1742’ immediately preceding the title-page of the second part. A series of tables calculating the amounts owed on leases based...

£125

[MILL, John Stuart, witness].

Report from the Select Committee on the Income and Property Tax; together with the Proceedings of...

[London], Ordered by the House of Commons, to be Printed, 1 August 1861.

First edition. This is the concluding report of the Commons Select Committee that had been responsible for investigating possible modifications to income tax policy. John Stuart Mill appeared before the Committee on the 18 June 1861, where he reiterated his central belief that the current system of income...

£175

[NAPLES.]

Manuale della contribuzione fondiaria compilato per disposizione di S. E. il ministro segretario di stato delle finanze....

Naples, Tipografia Flautina, 1835.

First edition. In two parts, the first of which sets out the basis of property taxation, while the second treats the collection and transmission of sums owing, this manual prints the legislation in force in the nearer Neapolitan part (always described as ‘This side of the Lighthouse’, whereas Sicily...

£200

[NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH.]

Regularization of Business Investment. A conference of the Universities-National Bureau...

Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1954.

First edition. ‘The question this book raises and helps to answer is whether the entire responsibility for preventing the next depression is to be left to government, or whether a leading role can be assumed by private enterprise, through regularization of investment expenditures. Twenty-six...

£120

[NECKER, Jacques.]

Eloge de Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Discours qui a remporté le prix de l’Académie Françoise, en 1773.

Paris, J.B. Brunet, 1773. [bound with:]

First edition of Necker’s first work. Necker (1732–1804) was the opponent of Turgot (whose position he was to take over in 1777) in action as well as in theory, agreeing with Forbonnais on the side of State-regulation. The encomiastic function of this work, his first book, is in fact a thin cover...

£750

[RICARDO, David.]

Report from the select committee on the usury laws.

London, Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 1818.

First edition of the report from the select committee ‘appointed to consider the effects of the laws which regulate or restrain the interest of money, and to report their opinion thereupon to the House…’ (p. 3). The question of the Usury Laws had first been raised in the house of commons by Brougham...

£350

RIPLEY, Percy.

A short history of investment.

London, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1934.

First edition of this work aimed at a British audience of bankers, members of the Stock Exchange and City workers, charting the history of investment from early times and the Elizabethans through to 1933, passing both prosperity, and tragedy and national debt. The work is dedicated to the financial journalist...

£50

ROSE, George.

Observations respecting the public expenditure, and the influence of the Crown … Third edition.

London, T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1810.

The third of four editions published in 1810. ‘A rabid Anti-Bullionist’ (Stephens, p. 42), Rose (1744–1818), here, ‘for Pitt’s greater glory … illustrate[s] the decline of the influence of the crown since 1782 by reference to the elimination of places and sinecures. His conclusions were...

£30

SAY, Léon.

[cover title: ] La Société coopérative est la meilleure des caisses d’épargne.

Lille, L. Danel, [1866?].

First edition. Léon Say (1826–1896), grandson of Jean-Baptiste Say, ‘became one of the most prominent statesmen of the French Third Republic. He served as Finance Minister from 1872 to 1879, and again in 1882, overseeing the largest financial operation of the century – payment of war reparations...

£75

[SERRÉ, Jean-Baptiste-Adrien-Joseph.]

Livre utile aux négocians de l’Europe, contenant les réductions des argents dont ils...

Paris, chez Valade; Brussels, chez Emmanuel Flon, 1774.

£100

[SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICAN COINAGE.]

The King’s Assay Master’s Report, with Tables, shewing the Weights and Fineness of the...

[London, 1834].

Three tables of coinage weights and fineness for Mexico, Central America, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Rio Plata and Columbia, drawn up by Robert and Henry Bingley of the Assay Office ‘to enable Government to form a correct estimate of the value of South American Dollars, as a supply for the military chests...

£250