Amsterdam. 1720. Edition: First Edition., Binding: Full contemporary mottled Dutch calf, expertly rebacked in matching calf. Matching upper and lower boards with triple frame of decorative gilt fillet and a panel of darker calf between inner two gilt frames. Gilt stamp in centers of boards. Spine with 5 raised bands, decorative gilt fillet on bands and in compartments. Title in gilt lettering on brown label in 2, remaining compartments with gilt stamps. Decorative gilt rolls on board edges. , Notes: “The engravings, which illustrate the rise and fall of the great speculation, are full of humor; many of them are exceedingly ludicrous, and some very obscene” (Sabin). “Published in Amsterdam, the giant tome includes pamphlets, legal documents, economic analyses, maps, satirical plays, poems, playing cards, and more than seventy prints. The volume attracted wide audiences feeling the sting of the financial crises taking place in England, France, and the Dutch Republic that together resulted in the first international stock market crash.”
“Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid references Tulipmania in the Dutch Republic, where the prices of tulip bulbs spiked and abruptly plummeted in 1637; the South Sea Bubble in England and Mississippi Bubble in France that burst in 1720; and other British, French, and Dutch enterprises that failed in 1720. Investing frenzy is characterized as a form of contagion moving from one country to the next: a consequence of the craze for international emulation as was evident in the English, for example, adopting the measures of John Law’s Mississippi Company that ultimately resulted in the South Sea Bubble. Prints in the volume commonly depict the dreams, disordered states of mind, and moral failures of investors caught up in the speculative zeal—alluding to herd behavior, gambling, corruption, insanity, immorality, and demonic possession.”
The text first appeared in 1720/21 and continued to be reprinted throughout the 18th century. Very few copies of this book survive as most were broken apart so that engravings could be sold individually. Professor Arthur Cole writes: “Rarely does a single volume combine in itself so much economic interest and so many bibliographical puzzles as Het Groote Tafereel Der Dwaasheid. There is scarcely another item just like it. Not merely are the identity of the compiler and the place of publication unknown, and not merely is the date of original issuance uncertain, but the volume went through an evolutionary process over time quite unnoticeable by ordinary, superficial inspection. Moreover so strange was the mode of issuance that no two specimens, even of approximately the same actual issue date are exactly the same. Neither the textual material nor the engraved prints are always identical, nor do they appear in the same sequence within the volume.”

, Size: Folio (390x248 mm), Illustration: Text in Dutch.
With the exceedingly rare index leaf. Extra illustrated with 80 plates.
A near fine example of this “extraordinary visual record of the first banking crash, showing the shocking effects of the South Sea Bubble in France, England and Holland, and placing John Law (1671-1729), with his Mississippi company scheme, squarely at the centre of the disastrous chain of events. ‘A unique historical document … of real significance’” (Cole, p.1). This copy is complete with the 74 plates listed in the very scarce index leaf included in this text, in addition to 6 extra plates; 80 plates in total. With many folding and double-page plates. Includes frontispiece, original engraving of John Law, and a deck of “bubble cards.” Title in red and black. Pg. 43 mislabeled as 23. In full contemporary decorative Dutch calf. , References: Cole, Great Mirror of Folly, 1949; Goldsmiths' 5879; Kress 3217; Sabin 28932., Pages: Blank (2). Frontispiece. Blank. Title. Blank. Index. P. 1 – 25. Aanwyzinge Der Projecten. 1 – 52. Versameling van Gedigten… 1 – 31. Blank. Papegaay of Actie-Kaart… 1 – 8. Copye Van Een Brief… 1 – 10. 80 plates. Blank (2)., Category: Book Caricatures; Book Europe Benelux; Book Plate Books General;. Plates are clean and crisp.

. Item #B6829

Price: $11,000.00