Beschreibung:

(Jabez Spencer, company promoter and politician, 1843-1916) Album of invitations to dinners and menus, including: Queen Victoria at the opening of Holloway College for Women, Banquet at the Guildhall, Hubert Herkomer, Society of Artists, Opening of the Royal Courts of Justice, The Lord Mayor at Mansion House, Surrey Magistrates' Club, Skinners' Hall, Worshipful Company of Fan-Makers, Society of British Artists etc., together c. 190 cards etc., most laid down, housed in a contemporary half morocco, gilt, rubbed, cloth covers lifting, g.e., v.s., in a 4to album, 1879-88. *** J. Spencer Balfour led a colourful professional life. As a company director he was involved in the large scale development of parts of London, founded his own bank and entered politics. He was elected as MP for Tamworth in Staffordshire and was feted in London society. "The continuous growth of the Balfour group of companies in the 1870s and 1880s rested on two simple but erroneous assumptions: first, that the judicious acquisition of suitable land and its development by speculative builders offered an infallible opportunity for private investment; and second, that the combined resources of many small savers represented a hitherto untapped but potentially unlimited source of capital which might be applied to this purpose." (Oxford DNB). In 1892 a recession exposed the unsound nature of Balfour's companies and he went bankrupt and many small investors lost their life savings. Spencer fled to Argentina and was subsequently extradited to the UK where he was sentenced to fourteen years in prison.