"WALL STREET SPECULATION IS THE MOST STUPENDOUS GAME KNOWN TO THE WORLD OF CHANCE; AS COMPARED WITH IT, THE GAME AT MONTE CARLO PALES INTO UTTER INSIGNIFICANCE"

KEYES, Franklin C. Wall Street Speculation. Its Tricks and Its Tragedies. A Lecture. Oneonta, New York: Columbia, 1904. Slim octavo, staple-bound as issued, original printed cream paper wrappers. $1800.

First edition of this early cautionary work on speculation, warning against getting drawn in by the lure of gambling in the market.

While many warned about speculation in the wake of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, few saw the dangers as early as Franklin Keyes in 1904. This slim work attempts to cast highlight both the practical and moral dangers of speculation. Keyes shows how the real-life transactions work in a unregulated, speculative market and how so many of them are little more than trickery, meant to defraud an honest, but uninformed, businessman. Keyes, a lawyer, was unable to stop his contemporaries from throwing their savings into the market, but many of his lessons about attempting to profit quickly at the edges of the market remain as pertinent as ever. Early title page owner signature. Front wrapper price of "25 cents" covered over in black, likely by original bookseller.

Interior quite nice with slight staple rust as usual, only minor soiling and rubbing mainly to extremities of wrappers. An extremely good copy.