2-652-489 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'The South Sea Bubble, from a print by William Hogarth', 1721, (1904). A British joint-stock company founded in 1711, created as a public-private partnership to consolidate and reduce the cost of national debt. The company was also granted a monopoly to trade with South America. From Social England, Volume V, edited by H.D. Traill, D.C.L. and J. S. Mann, M.A. [Cassell and Company, Limited, London, Paris, New York & Melbourne, 1904]