Second edition of an interesting financial history by an even more interesting, extravagant and intriguing author. Louis Pierre Mortier published the first edition in 1758 at "London" (= Paris). The full name of the author - referred to on the title as 'Mr. Deon de Beaumont' - is Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Thimothée d'Eon de Beaumont, a French diplomat, writer, spy, and Freemason, a member of the elite Dragoons and one of the best swordsmen of France, whose true gender was a source of speculation and provoked public bets in the late 18th century. Many believed that d'Eon was born female, but had started to dress as a man in his childhood, and changed back from "a bad boy into a good girl" when his secret was revealed decades later. After his death it turned out that he was a man who had dressed as a woman. D'Eon is often called the patron saint of transvestites.
With manuscript owner's inscription P. Lemarie 1861 on first blank. Spine slightly damaged, otherwise in good condition. Goldsmiths'-Kress Library 9587; Higgs, Bibl. of economics 2320; STCN (2 copies); for the author: André Frank, D'Eon: chevalier et chevalière (1953); Edna Nixon, Royal spy: the strange case of the Chevalier d'Eon (1965); Cynthia Cox, The enigma of the age: the strange story of the Chevalier d'Eon (1966); M. Cadéac, Le Chevalier d'Eon et son problème psychosexuel (1966); Gary Kates, Monsieur d'Eon is a woman (1995); and Mark Brownell, Monsieur d'Eon (2001).