May 05, 2022 - Sale 2603

Sale 2603 - Lot 27

Unsold
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 800
[Economics] Magens, Nicolaus (1697 or 1704-1764)
An Essay on Insurances, Explaining the Nature of Various Kinds of Insurance.

London: Printed by H. Haberkorn & sold by W. Baker, 1755.

First English edition, two large quarto volumes, expanded from the original German to more than 1,200 pages; bound in original uniform calf-covered boards, joints cracked, losses to all endcaps, a good candidate for restoration; ex libris William Curtis Noyes, with bookplates; contents generally good, final blanks present in both volumes; 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 in.

Magens was born in Germany, but spent most of his life and career in Great Britain. He lived in Cadiz in the 1720s, trading silver through Veracruz. Beginning in the 1740s, he worked in the insurance industry specializing in the international shipping trade. This work required navigating incredibly complex constellations of national laws, complicated by the vagaries of worldwide trade, currency exchange, ongoing wars, border disputes, piracy, and the dangers of the sea.

Goldsmiths 9045; Kress 5453; Lowndes 1449; ESTC T98888.