Every Man his Own Broker: or, a guide to Exchange-Alley. In which the nature of the several funds, vulgarly called the stocks, is clearly explained. And The Mystery and Iniquity of Stock-Jobbing laid before the Public in a New and Impartial Light. The Method of Transferring Stock,

London: printed for S. Hooper,, 1769. An early guide to the stock exchange Seventh edition, expanded from the first of 1761, of what is generally considered the first guide to the stock exchange, based on the author's own experience of losing "a genteel fortune" in 1756. Thomas Mortimer (1730-1810) was one of the earliest experts on the operation of the stock exchange established in the coffee-house of London's Change Alley. Every Man his Own Broker is a practical guide for would-be speculators, warning about the dangers of getting involved with brokers and offering insight into the financial world of mid-18th-century London. Mortimer was the first to write about the terms "bear" and "bull" markets. The book proved popular, with 14 editions published within 40 years. Bound with two related works: i) COYER, Gabriel François, abbé. La noblesse commerçante. A Londres [though printed on the continent]: chez Fletcher Gyles, 1756. One of several editions of 1756, published surreptitiously. Coyer argued that, as successful French merchants were rewarded with titles of nobility and the sinecures of high office, the economy was robbed of the very activity that had won them honours. Asserting that the royal absolutist system thus transformed the nobility into an idle class with no political, economic, or military function, at odds with the dynamism of modern commercial society, Coyer recommended noble participation in maritime, wholesale, and even retail trade to help France compete with economically more advanced states such as England and Holland. Montesquieu had been rigid in his refutation of noble trade in his Spirit of the Laws (1748) and Coyer's severe attack on his position roused heated controversies in Paris and beyond. The work was both popular - this one of several editions published in quick succession - and controversial, with no less than 16 responses appearing in the year following publication. ii) Lettere sopra lo studio del commercio. Venice: Nella Stamperia Baglioni, 1770. First edition of a series of six letters on commerce, treating of studying the literature on trade, studying the trade laws of foreign nations, and the usefulness of trade in general. Bound second in a single volume containing three works, octavo (165 x 93 mm). Contemporary half calf, red morocco label ("Miscellanies"), marbled sides, speckled edges. With folding plate. Bookplate of Michael Kearney (1734-1814), professor of history and law at Trinity College Dublin, to front pastedown. Bound without half-title. Light wear to binding and splitting to joints, but holding firm, offsetting from turn-ins, slight separation in gutter between first and second work, contents clean and fresh. Very good. ESTC T87415.