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Auction: 10USA - NYC Currency and Stock & Bond Auction
Lot: 1065

Het Groote Tafereel Der Dwaasheid (Netherlands) 1720. Amsterdam. [Translation of the title] The Great Mirror of Folly, Showing the Rise, Progress and Downfall of the Bubble in Stocks and Windy Speculation, Especially in France, England, and The Netherlands in the Year 1720. One of the great satirical books of the 18th century deatiling the wild speculation and financial collapse of the period. Financial calamity in Great Britainwas referred to as the South Sea Bubble, in France the Mississippi Bubble and in the Netherlands the Windhandel or trading in a wind. Book conatins 44 plates consisting of 50 engravings. Most engravings are quite large including some fold out engravings. The largest sheet is 20"x16". The plates begin and their accompanying text begin with a portrait of John Law and follow the course of investment and speculation in ludicrous and sometimes obscene images. There are engravings of men tarding worthless notes and other illustrations mocking the methods and hopes of the speculators. The book is divided into six parts detailing the various Bubble comapnies; satirical and didactic plays; various poems; descriptions of playing cards ridiculing the speculators; a series of letters denouncing the wind trade and of course the engravings. The speculations of the 18th century reveal types of economic behvaior that were not often yet understood. Speculating was condemned in moral terms and investment was simply considered gambling. This book provides a superb insight for those investing or concerned with financial history. paper cover is detached and some plates loose. Quite clean, rare and desirable. Estimate US$ 2,500-5,000

Sold for
$1,750