Tulipmania

$42.95

Money, Honor, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age Written by Anne Goldgar In the 1630s the Netherlands was reportedly gripped by Tulipmania: a speculative investment fever unprecedented in scale and, as popular history would have it, folly. We all know the outline of the story—how otherwise sensible merchants, nobles,...

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Money, Honor, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age

Written by Anne Goldgar

In the 1630s the Netherlands was reportedly gripped by Tulipmania: a speculative investment fever unprecedented in scale and, as popular history would have it, folly. We all know the outline of the story—how otherwise sensible merchants, nobles, and artisans spent all they had (and much that they didn’t) on tulip bulbs. We have heard how these bulbs changed hands hundreds of times in a single day, and how some bulbs, sold and resold for thousands of guilders, never even existed (as in an early future's market concept?). Tulipmania is seen as an example of the gullibility of crowds and illustrates well the dangers of financial speculation.

But it wasn’t like that. As Anne Goldgar reveals in Tulipmania, not one of these stories is factually true. Making use of extensive archival research, she lays waste to the legends, revealing that while the 1630s did see a speculative bubble in tulip prices, neither the height of the bubble nor its bursting were anywhere near as dramatic as we are led to believe. By clearing away the accumulated myths, Goldgar is able to show us instead the far more interesting reality: the ways in which Tulipmania reflected deep anxieties about the transformation of Dutch society in the Golden Age.

"Goldgar's book is much more than just a deconstruction of popular myth in history; it is a magnificent reconstruction of the mentality of the upper middle class in the Dutch Republic. . . . A fascinating and indeed convincing reconstruction of the tulip craze. It is well-researched, beautifully written and splendidly produced." -- Klaas van Berkel ― European History Quarterly

Hardcover with jacket, 446 pages, illustrated, extensive notes, glossary, index, a general Dutch Heritage collection title (Illustrated: 13 color plates, 69 halftones, 3 line drawings)

Tulipmania

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