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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
The Kress Room of Baker Library recently acquired the Latin and German editions of a book which must be considered one of the first, if not the first, guide for investors published in Germany. According to the custom of the times, the titles are cumbersome indeed. The earlier Latin edition's title reads: Commentatio juris praesertim Germanici tam consonarais quam dissonantis de pecunia mutuaticia tuto collocanda. An wen, wie, und wo die Capitalien am sichersten auszulehnen (Goettingae, 1761); while the German edition is entitled Der Kluge Capitalist, oder politisch redlicher Unterricht, wie Gelder am sichersten zu benutzen und anzulegen (Nürnberg, 1766; 2d ed., 1786).
1 Translated into English, the Latin and German titles read, respectively: “Juridical Comment on the Similarities and Dissimilarities of the Present German Law on Capital Investment. To Whom, How, and Where to Invest Capital Safely”; and, “The Clever Capitalist or Politically Equitable Information on How to Use and Invest Funds in the Most Secure Way.”
2 The biographical data which follow were taken from Jöcher's, Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexikon, Fortsetzung, vol. iii (Delmenhorst, 1810)Google Scholar, col. 586. I owe this reference to Dr. Fritz Meyen, Librarian, Braunschweig Institute of Technology, Braunschweig, Germany, whose assistance has been appreciated.
3 Its title page reads: Ordinis iuridici prodecanus Georgius Henricus Ayrer D. viri consultissimi Ioh. Friderici Kobii Saxo-Coburgensis superiori anno merito suo gradum doctoris adepti solemnia inauguralta indicit. Praemissa commentatone de emendatione legali rei monetariae in Germania perturbatissimae (Goettingae, 1761). Kobe defended certain theses on money payments in a period of inflation as it ravaged Germany during the Seven Years' War. He dealt with the same subject again in Der Kluge Capitalist, pp. 221 ff. This was an urgent problem for the time; see also the contemporary item by Schmidt, Johann Ludewig, Ausführliche Abhandelung der strittigen Rechtsfrage: In was für Münzsorten ist eine Geldschuld abzutragen … (Jena, 1763).Google Scholar
4 Meusel, Johann Georg, Das Gelehrte Teutschland oder Lexikon der jetzt lebenden Teutschen Schriftsteller angefangen von Georg Christoph Hamberger … fortgesetzt von … 5th ed., vol. viii (Lemgo, 1800), pp. 121, 122Google Scholar; Holzmann, und Bohatta, , Anonymen-Lexikon, vol. i (Weimar, 1902), p. 299Google Scholar; Kayser's, Bücherlexikon, Part v (Leipzig, 1835), p. 475.Google Scholar
5 See my book The Molding of American Banking, Men and Ideas (New York, 1951), vol. ii, p. 306.
6 “The Clever Capitalist or a Practical Guide to the Different Kinds of Business and Speculative Transactions in Public Securities.” This book is in the library of the University of Heidelberg and a microfilm is in Baker Library.
7 Kobe himself used the words “in den Schrank einschliessen oder vergraben” (p. 11); i.e., lock up or bury.
8 This important passage is on page 120 of Kobe's book.