Arthur Crump

History of Financial Advice Collection. Though David Morier Evans looms as an obvious exception, financial journalists had tended not to publish guides to the stock market before the 1870s. A new generation of journalists began to challenge this norm in the late Victorian period, however, among whom Arthur Crump was one of the most prominent. Previously a banker, he had gone on to become City editor of the Pall Mall Gazette. His book is notable for its insights into not only the practicalities of speculation but also the mentality of the successful speculator, who was able to “emancipate” himself from the “frailty of human nature” and act with utter indifference towards others. Though the book attempted “to show to persons who may contemplate trying their hand at Stock Exchange Speculation, the improbability of their hopes being realized,” in pointing out the many pitfalls that existed, and in sharing the secrets of rich financiers, it could also paradoxically be read as a guide on how to succeed at speculation. Crump went on to a long tenure as City editor of The Times.… (más)