Course of the Exchange – John Castaing

It’s been a long while since I’ve been back on here to pontificate and curate, largely because I’ve been so busy, I barely have time to wipe my ass. This trading lull ahead of the election and wanting to clear a lot of stuff that’s been backed up ahead of an upcoming project, is giving enough of a push to post up some stuff I’ve had around….

Beginning in 1698, Huguenot stockbroker John Castaing began publication of Course of the Exchange, and other Things, from Jonathan’s Coffee House on Exchange Alley in the City of London. Jonathan’s is largely regarded as the precursor to what became the London Stock Exchange as it, and other nearby coffeehouses, were a centralized gathering place for brokers and speculators to transact or share information. An excellent background article on the London coffeehouses of the 17th and 18th century is: The Lost World of the London Coffeehouse by Dr. Matthew Green. Also, this sample chapter in PDF form from The First Crash: Lessons from the South Sea Bubble is also recommended background reading.

Castaing’s Course of the Exchange was not the first financial list published, but it was quickly taken to be the authoritative source on pricing due to it’s accuracy and consistency. Since it’s founding in 1698, Course was published twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays as those were the days that foreign mail was dispatched from London. As a result, Course is the also notable to have been the first English business paper to be published more than once a week. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Castaing created the world’s first reliable financial data provider and the increased frequency of publication was the first step in latency reduction which now measured in nanoseconds (billionths of a second).

Even after Castaing’s passing in 1707, the format of Course remained very consistent by listing price information with the same format on one side of a single sheet. As the sheet was printed bi weekly, the edition number for that year is listed at the top of each page. There isn’t much broadly written on what Castaing created but one blogger noted that his ties to the Huguenot community was instrumental to the accuracy and following among the London business community.

I have an extensive collection of trading floor memorabilia of all types, but these pieces are some of my favorites across my collection. If anyone is aware of other pieces in a personal collection, please email me. From my research the largest original collection is at Guildhall Library in London (also the site of LIFFE trader statue, atleast on my last visit), followed by the Bodleian Library Oxford, British Library, a handful of single pieces at a few American Universities and of course these at Chez Carlson. With my December 1708 batch, which I obtained from one of the most prolific financial history collectors, I still am a bit in awe to have something that was created when Benjamin Franklin was a toddler (the only American reference point I could think of to show how old it is!). I also think it’s really interesting to look over the price changes, or lack there of, from the 1776 and 1777 sheets during the American Revolutionary War. Clearly the 1776 and 1777 sheets were posted on a nail, also a nice touch I like for the utilitarian use.

It’s hard to imagine the early 1700s when stocks were traded in coffeeshops although an excellent illustration of early share trading, particularly during the South Sea Company bubble of 300 years ago, is on display at Tate Modern Museum in London. Edward Matthew Ward’s 1847 painting, The South Sea Bubble, a Scene in ‘Change Alley in 1720, depicts the mania and street scene on Change Alley outside of Garraway’s Coffee House, where Castaing published Course of the Exchange after moving on from Jonathan’s Coffee House originally. There’s a lot of interesting details to the painting so I suggest viewing it in person next opportunity in London. There is no direct reference to Course of the Exchange in the painting but I’ll share some photos of some details that I found interesting in it below.