1/11/2000
The South Sea Bubble was the great speculative mania of 18th century England, and when it burst in 1720 it brought ruin to thousands of investors, disgrace to members of the government and changes to the ways capital could be raised. This article, from Harvard Magazine, looks at the sorry story of the South Sea Company through the use of rare documents and illustrations in Baker Library's Kress Collection of Business and Economics.