This Palgrave Pivot aims to present a research-based, accessible analysis of the inner workings of the London stock exchange during the Georgian period.

Consolidating scattered archival sources and materials in one place, the book provides a solid historical basis for understanding the early modern stock market, ending with the formal creation of the Stock Exchange as an institution in 1801. Rather than going into detailed analysis of trading strategies and processes of the time, the book instead presents the ‘what‘, ‘where‘, ‘who’ and ‘how’ of the stock market operation, outlining the ways in which market participants negotiated trades, where these took place, and all the different types of securities that were traded. This engaging book will be of interest to financial and economic historians, as well as scholars in the humanities searching for a non-technical guide to the formation of the modern stock market.

Kent McKeever was the Former Director of the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library, Columbia Law School, Columbia University, from 1994 - 2019. He published extensively in financial and legal history with a focus on tontines, annuities and eighteenth to nineteenth century public finance.