The Early History of Portfolio Theory: 1600–1960

q) iversification of investments was a well-established practice long before I published my paper on portfolio selection in 1952. For example, A. Wiesenberger's annual reports in Investment Companies prior to 1952 (beginning 1941) showed that these firms held large numbers of securities. They were neither the first to provide diversification for their customers (they were modeled on the investment trusts of Scotland and England, which began in the middle of the 19th century), nor was diversification new then. In the Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare has the merchant Antonio say:

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