George Joachim GOSCHEN

The Theory of Foreign Exchanges 1861 First edition

The classic treatise on foreign exchanges. The first systematic exposition of the effects of the bank rate

The Theory of Foreign Exchanges.

London, Effingham Wilson Royal Exchange 1861

Contemporary quarter calf and marbled boards, spine lettered gilt, label of Bibliothek der Wiener Handelsakademie on the upper cover and inside, leaf edges marbled, printers woodcut on title of a grasshopper, pp.xii + 139 pages, discreet library stamp on title, a fine copy.

Provenance: Bibliothek der Wiener Handelsakademie, founded in 1857, the second Handelsakamie of the Austrian Empire after Prague.

Not in Einaudi or Sraffa. Not in the Amex Library. See Chi-Yuen Wu: An outline of international price theories. (2007), pp.204-206. Schumpeter, p.736.

FIRST EDITION of this classic treatise in which Goschen declared that the primary clause which determined the fluctuations in the exchange rates was the balances of international indebtedness. He found that the state of credit in the money market played an important role. Chi-Yuen Wu writes that Goschen produced the first systematic exposition of the effects of the bank rate.
Goschen [1831-1907], Chancellor of the Exchequer in Salisbury’s second administration 1886-1892] was 30 years of age when this work was first published. “His book describes extremely well what a highly educated and intelligent dealer in foreign exchange would know about foreign exchanges. As a piece of analysis, the performance, which nowhere goes below a well-observed surface, does not rank highly. But it explained things about which politicians and academic economists are likely to know little and hence was a boon to both. The success of the book was sweeping and it is still worth reading”. Schumpeter
Rarely found in first edition.

£1,200