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Tulipomania

2011-04-20 · explainer · John · 2:04 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: on location

In Amsterdam, John retells the 1630s Dutch tulip mania and its 1637 crash, but says what fascinates him is that the prized flowers were sick with a virus and are gone: we will never know what it felt like to see the Viceroy.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Really in Amsterdam: two months finishing the new book; the Yeti's Venice Biennale work; Henry is portable; heading to the flower market

  • ★★★ John says he is really in Amsterdam, not before a green screen, for two months finishing his new book; the reason for Amsterdam will become obvious when you read it. — 00:00:03 · Amsterdam, John's untitled novel (2011)
  • ★★ John says the Yeti needs to be in Europe because she is working on the U.S. pavilion for the Venice Biennale. — 00:00:07 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★ Everyone has a reason to be in Amsterdam except baby Henry, John jokes, but he is portable. (playful) — 00:00:14 · Henry Green, Amsterdam

00:00:22 — Tulip mania: tulips reach Holland, the Viceroy, prices rise through the 1630s, what a bulb could buy, the 1637 collapse, one of the first bubbles

  • ★★ John says that when tulips first came to Holland in the early 1600s they were prized for their rich color, and multicolored ones were especially beloved. — 00:00:22
  • ★★ John says rare, fragile, sickly-looking bulbs produced the most beautiful tulips, such as the Viceroy. — 00:00:33
  • ★★ John says tulip prices rose steadily through the first half of the 1630s, and by the winter of 1636 the Dutch had become total tulip maniacs, especially for the sickly bulbs. — 00:00:42
  • ★★ John says that for the amount of money a single Viceroy bulb cost in 1637 you could have bought all the goods shown. — 00:00:54
  • ★ John jokes that, forget the rye and the fat oxen, he could live happily ever after with just a suit of clothes, a complete bed and 4,000 pounds of butter. (joke) — 00:01:05
  • ★★★ John says that in 1637, almost all at once, the tulip bulb market collapsed, falling about 99% in two months. (hedged) — 00:01:12
  • ★★ John calls tulip mania one of the first great bubbles of capitalism, but says that is not what fascinates him. — 00:01:16

00:01:27 — The prized bulbs were sick with a virus and died out; we will never see the Viceroy; Atlas by Katrina Vandenberg and her lines; sign-off

  • ★★★ What fascinates John: the fragile-looking bulbs behind brilliant flowers like the Viceroy were sick with a virus, which he calls the tulip mosaic virus, and have long since died out. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ John reflects that although we can look at paintings, we will never know quite what it felt like to see the Viceroy. — 00:01:36
  • ★★ John first heard of tulip mania in Atlas by Katrina Vandenberg, a brilliant book of poems that has shaped his thinking while writing the new book. — 00:01:40 · John's untitled novel (2011)

  • ★★★ Katrina Vandenberg (quoted): John closes with Vandenberg's lines asking whether we aren't sorry we will never see a tulip worth offering all we own for its promise. — 00:01:49

    “…a tulip that would make you offer all you own for the layered, translucent promise in its brown paper wrapper”

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description urges viewers to buy Atlas by Katrina Vandenberg now: you will not regret it. — video description
  • ★ The description calls the 1636-37 flower bubble the original irrational exuberance, then asks whether it was irrational. (playful, speculative) — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Amsterdam · Atlas · Katrina Vandenberg · Tulip breaking virus · Tulip mania · Viceroy (tulip)

Also: Economic bubble · flower market in Amsterdam · Henry Green · John's untitled novel (2011) · Netherlands · Sarah Urist Green · Tulip mania price collapse · Venice Biennale

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