CASTAING (JOHN) The Course of the Exchange, &c., no. 1-104, printed recto only, all after no. 22 with imprints cropped or in a handful of cases entirely lost, first leaf slightly frayed at fore-edge, paper flaw at head of no. 88 with loss of blank margin, contemporary blind-tooled calf, rubbed with small areas of surface loss, spine gilt-lettered 1712 [ESTC P2157; cf. Kress 3096], agenda 12mo (208 x 80mm.), for John Castaing, Broker, at his Office in Garaway's Coffee-House, 31 December 1711 to 26 December 1712 Footnotes: A BLOOMBERG TERMINAL FOR THE QUEEN ANNE ERA: compiled by Huguenot broker John Castaing and family, and issued every Tuesday and Friday (holidays permitting), The Course of the Exchange lists prices of money, precious metals, commodities, stocks and bonds, lottery tickets, and other financial instruments. It was 'the de facto 'official' stock price publication' (Dorothy Fouracre, Bank of England Museum blog post, 21 August 2023). Stock prices for the recently-founded South Sea Company feature prominently; notably stable, the stock trades in a narrow range throughout the year, and far below the bubble territory reached in 1720. An exceptionally rare survival of this bi-weekly periodical which by its nature is ephemeral; whilst the unusual format lends itself to a pocket, especially when bound, most issues would surely have been bought one day and discarded the next. Castaing is better known for his Interest-book which is occasionally found on the market; however we have traced only one copy of The Course of the Exchange at auction, being the issue for 1708. The only known copy of the first year of issue, 1697, was sold to the British Library in 2023 with an asking price of £100,000. The present 1712 issues are absent from the institutionally-held runs listed on ESTC, including that at the BL. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: • • Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing