The Mystery of Overend & Gurney: A Financial Scandal in Victorian London

First edition, first impression.  xvi, 266pp, with several black and white plate illustrations.  Black cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering on the spine.    8vo.  Volume is neat, clean, bright and tight throughout.  In its original illustrated dust wrapper, not price clipped, just a little bumped on extreme edges.  

On May 10th 1866, Overend, Gurney and Co, the City of London’s largest discount house with a turnover second only to that of the Bank of England, closed its doors and suspended all payments. In doing so, it provoked a panic and a run on the banks without parallel in the financial history of England.  The Panic of 1866 had widespread economic impacts, decimating London shipbuilders, prompting the collapse of the Millwall Iron Works and undermined over 80 per cent of joint stock bonds.  There were riots in Hyde Park and widespread recession, which in turn prompted calls for reform which in part culminated in the 1867 Reform Act.  A very hard to find title.