“SPECULATION ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE IS GAMBLING”

CRUMP, Arthur. The Theory of Stock Exchange Speculation. New York: H.W. Rosenbaum, 1887. Tall octavo, original purple cloth. $2000.

Early edition of this work explaining the basics of stock trading. Scarce.

A contemporary review in the New York Times notes: “Mr. Crump has written a book to warn people from the Stock Exchange, and though he calls it The Theory of Stock Exchange Speculation, it is rather a very plain and searching account of the practices which prevail on the Exchange, and of the facts which make it a dead certainty that in the long run the outside speculator will lose… Of the Exchange, he says: ‘Very few persons, if any, will be found to dispute the statement that speculation on the Stock Exchange is gambling.” Crump notes that the Vienna Stock Market panic of 1873 was caused by overspeculation in American cotton during the Civil War. The first edition was published in 1874.

Inner paper hinges and endpapers expertly reinforced, expert restoration to cloth. An extremely good copy.