Skip to content
AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEED | EXPERT ADVICE
AUTHENTICITY GUARANTEED

We guarantee the authenticity and completeness of all items (unless otherwise described), and are happy to provide a certificate to this effect. All items can be assumed to be in good condition, with any defects being described in our description. 

We guarantee the authenticity and completeness of all items (unless otherwise described), and are happy to provide a certificate to this effect. All items can be assumed to be in good condition, with any defects being described in our description. 

Money, Money, Money

Oliver Yarwood
Travels along the Silk Routes Shapero Rare Books

Two hundred and fifty years ago this year, a group of stock-jobbers, dealers and brokers, and market-makers got together to erect their own building on Sweeting’s Alley, which became known as The Stock Exchange. For a daily fee of 6d anyone could pitch up and make a bet, and so the art of speculation was born.

Travels along the Silk Routes Shapero Rare Books
Today it’s difficult to imagine London without the City, although bowler hats and trading floors have given way to e-trading and online news. Faced with a dizzying array of free advice, apps, and cryptocurrencies, I find myself wondering how did it all begin?

One of the earliest items in our latest catalogue, which brings together 72 works on the stock market, is a handbill advertising the state lottery of 1780. It was here that brokers like Brooksbank and Ruddle first cut their teeth selling shares in the prize draws which attracted punters from all walks of life.
These lotteries were an important method of raising state finance at a time when the national debt was still in its infancy, however from the beginning lotteries proved controversial. In one of the first critical histories of the London Stock Exchange, John Francis recalled how the ‘streets swarmed with unhappy wretches, who, while they suffered for the past, were making imaginary combinations for the future’.

Ever since, the stock market has swung in and out of public approval, mirroring its own slumps and economic booms. The run-up to the Great Crash of 1929 was a period of boundless optimism. Insider accounts like Thomas Lawson’s High Cost Living give a sense of the adventure and limitless opportunity of a time filled with speculation and market intrigue. Our copy is Lawson’s own, with his bookplate pasted to the front free endpaper.

Edwin Lefèvre’s Reminiscences of a Stock Operator is a classic in the genre of the Wall Street novel. Although framed as a fictionalised biography of the legendary day trader Jesse Livermore, the book contains many valuable observations on investing, speculating, and the nature of the market, and no investor’s education would be complete without it. Found here in the publisher’s tan cloth.

Other works offer advice and courses on how to beat the market, with Richard Wyckoff’s Method of Trading and Investing in Stocks being a rare survivor. Unusually, the text was loaned, rather than sold to a select group of clients who were paying for what they believed was a unique glimpse into the technical mysteries of the market as written by a living master.

Against this trend, those stung by market speculation urged caution. Frank Boyce’s Pitfalls of Finance and Politics exposed prominent politicians and firms involved in the promotion of dubious and downright fraudulent investments. Like many of the books in the collection, the work is scarce.
These works offer a rare opportunity to delve into the history of the stock market, following its highs and lows over 200 years of trade and speculation.

Click here to browse more rare stock market items.
Filed in: All
Previous article Exciting News
Next article The Northwest Frontier

Leave a comment

* Required fields

Enjoy reading our content?

Sign up for our newsletter and stay in the know!

About Us

About Us

Shapero Rare Books is an internationally renowned dealer in London, specialising in antiquarian & rare books and works on paper, with particular expertise in fine illustrated books from the 15th to the 20th century, travel & voyages, natural history, modern firsts, rare children’s books, guidebooks, Hebraica & Judaica, Eastern European, and Islamica. 

Shop online and enjoy free international shipping now.

BROWSE OUR SHELVES

FEATURED ITEMS

Browse All
  • 90000_2 90000

    Bond-Certificate Campaign.

    [American Commission on Irish Independence].
    $963.00 - $963.00
    $0.00
    $963.00
    $963.00 - $963.00
    $963.00

    'God Irrevocably Fixed the Boundaries of IRELAND'. A rare political pamphlet promoting the first American bond-drive to finance the newly declared ...

    View full details
    $963.00 - $963.00
    $0.00
    $963.00
    $963.00 - $963.00
    $963.00
  • 109945_2 109945

    Books by Babson. [Mail Order Booklet].

    BABSON, Roger W.
    $97.00 - $97.00
    $0.00
    $97.00
    $97.00 - $97.00
    $97.00

    A scarce mail order booklet for 'Books by Babson', the American economist and temperance campaigner who founded the eponymous Babson's Reports in ...

    View full details
    $97.00 - $97.00
    $0.00
    $97.00
    $97.00 - $97.00
    $97.00
  • 109857_2 109857

    Our Campaign for the Presidency in 1940.

    BABSON, Roger W.
    $578.00 - $578.00
    $0.00
    $578.00
    $578.00 - $578.00
    $578.00

    Inscribed by the author to prohibitionist leader Earl Dodge. A reflection on electoral defeat by Roger Babson (1875-1967), an economist and tempera...

    View full details
    $578.00 - $578.00
    $0.00
    $578.00
    $578.00 - $578.00
    $578.00
  • 109832_2 109832

    The Maelstrom.

    BASS, William Louis.
    $482.00 - $482.00
    $0.00
    $482.00
    $482.00 - $482.00
    $482.00

    A curious post-crash guide urging novice investors to undertake a 'course of practical instruction' before entering the 'man-made machine known in...

    View full details
    $482.00 - $482.00
    $0.00
    $482.00
    $482.00 - $482.00
    $482.00
  • 91936_2 91936

    The Real Wall Street.

    BLACK, William Harman.
    $578.00 - $578.00
    $0.00
    $578.00
    $578.00 - $578.00
    $578.00

    The first edition of this helpful guide to stock trading aimed at the novice investor. William Harman Black (1868-1955) went on to have a successf...

    View full details
    $578.00 - $578.00
    $0.00
    $578.00
    $578.00 - $578.00
    $578.00
  • 109827_2 109827

    Safeguarding Your Investments.

    [CARLISLE INVESTMENT TRUST].
    $450.00 - $450.00
    $0.00
    $450.00
    $450.00 - $450.00
    $450.00

    A rare investor's guide published by the Carlisle Investment Trust as promotional material, with a useful glossary of technical terms, tables of s...

    View full details
    $450.00 - $450.00
    $0.00
    $450.00
    $450.00 - $450.00
    $450.00
  • 109822_2 109822

    How to Read the Money Article.

    DUGUID, Charles.
    $642.00 - $642.00
    $0.00
    $642.00
    $642.00 - $642.00
    $642.00

    The first edition of this fascinating work aimed at demystifying financial journalism for the 'uninitiated' investor. The author, Charles Duguid (...

    View full details
    $642.00 - $642.00
    $0.00
    $642.00
    $642.00 - $642.00
    $642.00
  • 109828_2 109828

    The Town and Country Magazine:

    [ECONOMIC PANIC].
    $289.00 - $289.00
    $0.00
    $289.00
    $289.00 - $289.00
    $289.00

    An issue of Town and Country published in the run-up to the Panic of 1796-1797, the last in a series of economic crises which shook the Anglophone...

    View full details
    $289.00 - $289.00
    $0.00
    $289.00
    $289.00 - $289.00
    $289.00
  • 109750_2 109750

    Origin, Growth, and Usefulness of the New York Produce Exchange.

    EDWARDS, Richard (editor).
    $450.00 - $450.00
    $0.00
    $450.00
    $450.00 - $450.00
    $450.00

    The first edition of Richard Edwards' review of the New York Produce Exchange, a history of the commodities market from its foundation in 1861, wi...

    View full details
    $450.00 - $450.00
    $0.00
    $450.00
    $450.00 - $450.00
    $450.00

read more

More Blogs

Your cart is empty

Continue shopping

Basket

Subtotal $0.00

Check out