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On Tuesday the first book known to be written about a stock exchange went on sale at Sotheby’s Rare Books and Manuscripts online auction, carrying an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. Written by Joseph Penso de la Vega in 1688, the Confusion of Confusions is a primer for the Amsterdam stock exchange, which was set up by the Dutch East India company in 1602. Bids close on Dec. 17.
Vega, a Sephardic Jew who had immigrated from Spain to Amsterdam earlier in the century, wrote the book in Spanish and described the mechanics of the exchange—including descriptions of puts, calls, pools,
