The Case of Richard Thompson and Company: With Relation to Their...
A Collapsing Bank Defends its Actions [Richard Thompson and Company]. The Case of Richard Thompson and Company: With Relation to Their Creditors. Published for Better Information. London: [s.n.], 1677. [ii], 29, [1] pp. With initial errata leaf. Quarto (7-3/4" x 5-3/4"). Stab-stitched pamphlet bound in later (eighteenth-century?) mottled calf, blind rules to boards, recently rebacked with blind fillets and gilt title and date to spine, endleaves renewed. Light rubbing to boards, which are slightly bowed, and extremities, light fading to rear board. Moderate toning to interior, light foxing, gutters of a few leaves discreetly reinforced not affecting text, corrections from errata leaf made in a later hand. An attractively bound copy. $750. * First edition. The bank Thompson and Company was formed in 1671 by merchants and trading partners Richard Thompson, Edward Nelthorpe, John Farrington and Edmund Page. By 1675, the bank, financed by the four's merchant partnerships, began to run into commercial trouble caused by the turbulent economy and competition with the highly favored East India Company. Thompson and Nelthorpe, both religious nonconformists, also faced political headwinds. In 1677, the bank began to collapse. Thompson and Nelthorpe fled their creditors and Farrington was arrested. Written on behalf of Thompson and Company during the subsequent bankruptcy suits, our pamphlet explains the bank's troubles in detail and justifies the company's evasiveness by saying that many of the creditors' claims were opportunistic and fraudulent. A second edition of this title appeared in 1678. Both are scarce. OCLC locates 5 copies of the first edition, 2 in North America (Harvard, Columbia). The ESTC adds 2 North American copies (Folger Shakespeare, Yale). English Short-Title Catalogue (ESTC) R34792.
Price: $750.00
Book number 74309