MURRAY, Robert.

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Corporation-Credit, or, a bank of credit made currant, by common consent in London. First edition of Murray's bank proposal. In 1682 "Murray, in association with [Hugh] Chamberlen, proposed a number of revenue-raising schemes to the corporation of London and in an agreement dated 29 August the projectors were promised a third of the profits arising from their proposals. The most significant of these was for a bank of credit, which accepted both subscriptions of money and deposits of goods. Arrangements were made for subscriptions from the mayor and common councilmen to establish the office, and although some members of the corporation were persuaded to subscribe to the bank, the scheme foundered" (ODNB). Though it foundered, Murray's proposals were innovative - traders were to deposit their surplus stock in the bank's warehouses, and receive credit notes at around two thirds to three quarters of their value, which could then be traded and used as money. The flaw, as Palgrave notes, is that Murray assumes the stock can always be readily liquidated into cash if needed, but if the traders had deemed the stock difficult to sell and deposited it instead for a credit note, it can be presumed that the market would not readily absorb it. Even so, it was a financially innovative idea at a time when the limits of metal currency were becoming increasingly clear. The proposal is surprisingly common institutionally for a 6-page pamphlet of the period (23 institutions on ESTC), but rare in

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