Collection of Seven Pamphlets on Gold and Six Pamphlets on Decimalisation, in a contemporary binding by GOLD: PAMPHLETS - 1855

London: various publishers, 1840-, 1855. Thick octavo, a contemporary collection of thirteen rare pamphlets, seven on the subject of gold, with in total five folding maps, each with original title-pages (one with drop-title only), several with owner's signature, and one with authorial inscription; a handsome volume in contemporary half vellum with titles written in ink on the spine, fine. A handsome volume bringing together a number of mid-nineteenth-century pamphlets relating to gold, privately bound as a reference for William John Prescott (with his bookplate), a prominent merchant banker and brother of Bank of England governor Henry James Prescott. The volume notably includes James Wyld's Gold Fields of Australia. Notes on the Distribution of Gold Throughout the World, including Australia, California, and Russia (London, 1852; second edition; Ferguson 18922). Wyld, an innovative cartographer and publisher and geographer to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, produced a vast amount of topical and popular geographical works. The present work on gold distribution reflects Wyld's astute sense of public demand. The text is accompanied by five maps engraved by Wyld himself, three of Australia, one of California and the fifth of the world. Also of note is a presentation copy of the first edition of D. Forbes Campbell's translation of Michel Chevalier's Remarks on the Production of Precious Metals, and on the Depreciation of Gold (London, 1853; Ferguson 13329). Chevalier, a noted French statesman and economist, was one of the originators of the 1860 Cobden-Chevalier treaty regarding free trade between France and Britain, but in the present work goes into some depth regarding the impact of the gold discoveries in Australia and elsewhere. Notably, the essay was included in The History of Gold and Silver (London, 2000). Aside from the above mentioned articles, the volume also contains the following regarding gold: William Newmarch, The New Supplies of Gold (London, 1853; Ferguson 13329); Scheer, Frederick. A letter to Thomas Baring, Esq., M.P. on the Effects of the Californian and Australian Gold Discoveries (London, 1852; second edition, not in Ferguson - but see 15469a for the first); Andrew Johnson, Some Observations on the Recent Supplies of Gold, with Remarks on Mr Scheer's Letter to Sir F. Baring. (London, 1852); Leonard Joseph Faucher, Remarks on the Production of the Precious Metals, Translated by Thomson Hankey, Jnr. (London, 1852). It is interesting to note that despite having some Australian content, neither of the last two pamphlets noticed here was included by Ferguson. Reflecting the interests of Prescott, the volume also includes six pamphlets on the debate about possible decimalisation of currency (a full listing of these is available on request).