Brief waarin het bedrog van de nieuw opgerichte compagnieën wordt aangetoond, 1720 1720

This is the title page of 'Brief waarin het bedrog van de nieuw opgerichte compagnieën wordt aangetoond,’ a pamphlet printed in Amsterdam in 1720 by Isaac Stokmans. The Dutch Golden Age saw unprecedented economic expansion but also social inequality. Pamphlets like this one critiqued the period's often unregulated financial markets. This pamphlet exists at a fascinating nexus of commerce, identity, and free speech. Its title, "Letter Exposing the Deceit of the Newly Established Companies," suggests a critique of emerging capitalist structures, while the publication itself operated within those very structures. Stokmans was a bookseller "by the Beurs," the stock exchange, hinting at the tensions of profiting from the critique of profit. We can imagine ordinary citizens reading this pamphlet in crowded coffee houses, debating the ethics of trade, or even perhaps nervously laughing about the "deceit" of financial institutions. This points to the relationship between personal experiences and the public sphere.