Archive
Antique insurance & actuarial books
A growing scanned collection of 70 out-of-copyright books. Curated by Glenn "The Term Guy" Cooke.
I collect antique and historical books related to life insurance; I don't collect books that are valuable or expensive. Instead, I collect books where I find the material interesting and unique. Everything from interesting mortality tables, to old medical conditions, to sales practices, to promotional cookbooks.
24 books
Mortality & Life Tables
Foundational mortality data — life tables, sickness experience, and mortality investigations from 1820 to 1939.
- 1820
A Sketch of an Analysis Applicable to the Estimation of the Value of Life Contingencies Benjamin Gompertz First appearance of the works that would later become the Gompertz-Makeham distribution. - 1861
A Supplement to: On the Science connected with Human Mortality Benjamin Gompertz Followup to the first two papers by Gompertz that led to the famous Gompertz-Makeham distribution. - 1918
American-Canadian Mortality Investigation, Policies issued from 1843 to 1914, Volume 1 American Institute of Actuaries Two volumes, comprehensive data collected with the intention of replacing/updating the American Table in use at that time. - 1918
American-Canadian Mortality Investigation, Policies issued from 1843 to 1914, Volume 2 American Institute of Actuaries Volume II of II - 1912
Medico-Actuarial Mortality Investigation V1 Actuarial Society of America Covering 97% of the life insurance policies in force from 1885-1908. Interesting, they did not cover term life insurance as they didn’t have enough data. V1: Statistics of Height and Weight of Insured personsRates of Mortality to be used as a standard of expected deaths - 1912
Medico-Actuarial Mortality Investigation V2 Actuarial Society of America Influence of build on mortality, causes of death, mortality among north American Indians, negroes, Chinese and Japenese in North America - 1912
Medico-Actuarial Mortality Investigation V3 Actuarial Society of America Effect of Occupation on Mortality, Including “Baths: Rubbers and Shampooers”, “Match Factory” and “Dynamite Factory Employees”. - 1912
Medico-Actuarial Mortality Investigation V4 Actuarial Society of America Medical Impairments, defects in Condition, personal history or family history. - 1912
Medico-Actuarial Mortality Investigation V5 Actuarial Society of America Mortality in southern states, mortality under joint life policies. This volume also has a comprehensive list of all the tables for all 5 volumes. - 1881
Willich's Popular Tables Charles M. Willich, Actuary I bought this book because I wanted a copy of the Carlisle Mortality tables, but the book also has Northampton, London and a bunch of other tables form the 1840’s, including some from other European countries. - 1900
Report on the Mortality Records of The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York from 1843 to 1898 Elias J. Marsh, Granville M. White 50 Years of data, compiled. - 1825
Tables of Life Contingencies, Among the members of the Equitable Society Griffith Davies, Actuary to the Guardian Assurance Co Contains information from 1768 through 1825. - 1907
Mortality Statistics 1905 Department of Commerce and Labor Data from this government source is broken down as far as individual U.S. county. - 1921
United States Life Tables, 1890, 1901, 1910, and 1901-1910 James W. Glover, Department of Commerce Details on the actual calculations, plus life tables of foreign countries and mortality tables of life insurance companies. - 1937
Mortality Among Southern Negroes Since 1920 Mary Gover, Associate Statistician While this book focuses exclusively on race, it's worth noting that many of the mortality books on this page contain data split by race - differentiating between US born whites, foreign born whites, and blacks. - 1855
Mortality Statistics of the Seventh Census of the United States, 1850 J.D.B. De Bow, Superintendent U.S. Census Weird, another book that splits data out by race and for whites, whether they're born in the U.S. or immigrants (they call it 'nativities'). Foreign born includes California and Territories. - 1937
Twenty-Five Years of Health Progress Louis I. Dublin, Alfred J. Lotka A study of the mortality experience among Industrial policyholders of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 1911-1935. FYI, in the days of 'industrial' insurance policyholders, life insurance agents would call at your door every week to collect your life insurance premiums. Seems awkward. - 1919
Mortality Statistics of insured Wage-Earners and Their Families Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Met Life’s mortality experience tables 1911-1916. Weird diseases, experience split by race, etc. But that’s not even the coolest part. This copy was donated by Met Life to Dr. Herman G. Morgan. This guy was the Board of Health Secretary in Indiana and ordered business closures, a cap on community gatherings, and mandatory mask wearing during the pandemic of 1918. What a connection to of the present to the past this particular book is. - 1939
Continuous Investigation into the Mortality of Assured Lives Institute of Actuaries, Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland Pages of tables of D’s, P’s, and A angle n’s with data from 1924-1929. I suspect this was published for the use of pricing actuaries. - 1903
British Offices Life Annuity Tables Insitute of Actuaries and The Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland Numerous life and annuity tables based on insured experience from 1863-1893. - 1851
On the Rate of Mortality among Persons of Intemperate Habits F.G.P Neison, Esq., F.L.S Lots of mortality tables in this one, it’s a paper read before a statistical society. FYI, people of intemperate habits have the best parties. - 1902
The Causes of Death Among the Assured in the Scottish Widows Fund Claud Muirhead, M.D. Covering 1874 to 1894. Data plus unfiltered listings of causes of death. Some too gross to imagine, some I’ve never heard of and suspect are no longer mortality factors like Glanders. You get glanders from horses. But it’s treatable with penicillins and similiar, so the CDC describes it as ‘rare’. - 1933
Valuation Tables for Friendly Societies Based Upon Sickness Experience of the I.O.O.F. Manchester Unity Valuation Tables for Friendly Societys Based Upon Sickness Experience of the I.O.O.F. Manchester Unity Tons of morbidity and mortality data from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. - 1903
Sickness and Mortality Experience of The I.O.O.F Manchester Unity The Grand Master and Board of Directors of The I.O.O.F. M.U. Mortality tables (1893-1897) and some information about the formation of life insurance from fraternal organizations.
20 books
Actuarial
Actuarial science textbooks, papers, and tables.
- 1838
An Essay on Probabilities on Their Application to Life Contingencies and Insurance Offices Augustus De Morgan I bought this book just because it’s De Morgan. This guy has his own laws even. Anyway, this is historically interesting if not actuarially interesting. There are so many examples of the mathematicians back in the 1800’s developing mathematics and blazing inroads into actuarial science, De Morgan is one of them. - 1882
A Sketch of the History of the Science of Life Contingencies with Special Reference to the Origin and Construction of Mortality Tables J.J. W. Deuchar, F.F.A., A.I.A., Assistant actuary of the City of Glasgow Life Assurance Company History of mortality tables. Did you know that around 300BC they had mortality tables? And those same tables were actually used in the 1500’s? Crazy. Anyway, this is a historical journey through the development of mortality tables. It’s over 100 years old now, and there’s been lots of developments since then. Maybe someday I’ll do some research and extend what the author did. - 1926
Report of Committee on Joint Investigation of Experience of American and Canadian Companies with Reference to Total and Permanent Disability Benefits Actuarial Society of America Data from 23 American companies and 6 Canadian companies. Also the longest title for any book I own. - 1930
A Short Collection of Actuarial Tables Institute of Actuaries All sorts of tables intended for use by actuarial students. Interest/PV tables, life tables with all the lx/dx etc, e-x, values of annuities, mortality and morbidity tables, etc. - 1932
Sources and Characteristics of the Principal Mortality Tables James S. Elston A compilation of mortality tables, throughout time. There’s mortality tables reproduced in this book from the 1700’s into the 1800’s. Quite a collection! - 1930
Some Recent Researches in the Theory of Statistics and Actuarial Science J.F. Steffensen,Professor of Actuarial Science, University of Copenhagen Collection of three lectures the author did, so this isn’t exam level stuff – it’s basically a collection of research papers. Limits of error in calculating a-bar-sub-x, theoretical foundations of functions, etc. - 1932
Disability Benefits in Life Insurance Policies Arthur Hunter, James T. Phillips Full treatment from the ground up of Disability Benefits. - 1942
Life Insurance Income Settlements, Their Functions, Problems, and Administration Roger W. Clark Wow, what a niche insurance topic.Today most life insurance policies pay a lump sum, but you can choose to have the proceeds doled out over time to the beneficiaries - basically letting the insurance company do the investing. This book is a deep dive into that type of policy benefit. The author was an associate secretary at The Union Central Life Insurance Company. - 1913
Total Disability Benefits in Life Insurance Lucius McAdam, M.Sc., F.A.I.A. Lots of old morbidity tables, calculations, and examples. - 1909
The Theory of the Construction of Tables of Mortality, etc. and of Similar Statistical Tables in use by the Actuary G.F. Hardy, F.I.A. An old school treatment of life contingencies and mortality table math. The author was important enough to warrant his own wikipedia page. - 1946
Actuarial Statistics Volume 1 Statistics & Graduation H. Tetley, M.A, F.I.A This is an old school actuarial textbook. It covers most of the upfront stats and probability material. Curiously there’s some stuff in there that aren’t covered in modern actuarial exams (like Makeham and Gompertz, I don’t think they get covered until the later exams today). - 1946
Actuarial Statistics Volume II Construction of Mortality & Other Tables J.L. Anderson, B.A, F.I.A, J.B. Dow, M.A, F.F.A Volume 2 of this series of actuarial textbooks. Very initial treatment of mortality tables etc. The current text used by the SOA by Hardy et al. is much more comprehensive, but this text also goes into other things that I don’t think are on the current curriculum, like age nearest/last etc. - 1908
Actuarial Theory William A. Robertson, Frederick A. Ross This old textbook is for the ‘Second Exam’ of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. I tell ya what, the old people had it good. The text starts with introduction to interest theory and makes its way all the way to mortality table construction. That’s like 2-3 exams these days. - 1927
Calculus and Probability for Actuarial Students Alfred Henry, F.I.A. Textbook on finite differences and some calculus. They used a L (sort of an upside down angle like “a angle n”) to represent factorials, so that’s changed over time. The book was owned by an actuary named J. Arnold Yates who worked at Travellers and Connecticut Life Insurance Company. - 1866
Contributions to the Study of Insurance, Fire and Life, as a Science and an Art John M. McCandlish, F.R.S.E. Calling it ‘experienced judgement based on data’ sounds better than calling it an art. The author of this book was the first president of the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland. - 1937
Distribution of Surplus Joseph B. Maclean The actuarial societies have funded, generated, and created tons of important studies and collections of data, spanning over 100 years. This is one such study from about 90 years ago or so. And all that work is there for the rest of us now, permanently. - 1906
Frequency Curves and Correlation W. Palin Elderton Let the author speak on this one: "By the preparation of the following pages an attempt is made to bring before Actuaries the more practical methods of modern statistical work." - 1931
Introduction to the Theory of Life Contingencies M.A. Mackenzie, N.E. Sheppard Hard core comprehensive life contingencies textbook. It covers everything from life tables to force of mortality to premiums, policy values, select risks, loadings, and substandard lives. Content is similiar to current actuarial exams. Author N.E. Sheppard was a University of Toronto professor for 50 years. Also, he fought in a tank division in WWI, and set up the pension plan for the staff of the United Nations. This guy was one hardcore actuary. - 1920
Introduction to Actuarial Science Harry Anson Finney This material covers some of second level life actuarial exams – interest theory, bonds, etc. The author is in the accounting hall of fame and was a prof at Northwestern University. - 1850
Assurance Premiums for Every Value of Annuity on Single or Joint Lives, or Survivors. Adapted to Any table of Mortality William Orchard, F.I.A Not much to say beyond what’s in the title of the book. Which, BTW, I abbreviated.
7 books
Sales
Vintage insurance sales manuals.
- 1926
Life Insurance as a Life Work Hugh D. Hart Most of these sales books are either methods in hard selling, or self congratulatory bro-code slap on the back books. This one is the second. Excerpt from the book: “A man can’t be hid. He may be a peddler in the mountains, but the world will find him out to make him a king of finance.’. 100 pages of more of the same. - 1929
Practical Salesmanship Demonstration Method, Closing the Deal National Salesmen’s Training Association Even if you don’t do sales, this is another book worth reading some of the stories in there. There’s a reason insurance sales have a bad rap, this is the way they used to do it. - 1897
Wanted, A Man! J.J. Johnston More of the ‘how to sell as a bro’ stuff. But the really interesting stuff are the notes inside the front cover. “Compliments of the Author to Rev. W.S. Johnston”, and then “My Husband’s Uncle wrote this book. I want to keep it in my family, Mattie T. Johnston.” and then below that, ”But now I want Paul D. Cail (Great Great Nephew) to have it. Mattie Talley Johnston, March 31st 1946”. Sad I guess that at some point it’s passed out of the family, but the good news is that it’s now in my possession and I appreciate it. - 1923
Sales Methods of 222 Life Insurance Field Men, Told by Themselves Mutual Underwriter Company More old school high pressure selling techniques including advice such as ‘carry in lots of stuff, your umbrella and books, and when they open the door, walk in and put your stuff down, make yourself at home’. Yeah, that’ll get you hoisted out the door today. - 1922
Analyzing Life Situations for Insurance Needs Griffing M. Lovelace It’s 1922, and we finally see the beginnings of modern sales methodologies. Rather than high pressure sales tactics (well, there’s still some of that), the author breaks down life insurance needs into various cases and reviews what to discuss with prospects. The author wrote a series of books on sales, this one focuses exclusively on life insurance. - 1896
Insurance at Piney Woods Samuel H. Davis My favourite ‘sales’ book by far. It’s not a book on how to sell, it’s a collection of newpaper articles written by the local insurance agent. And this guy shades everyone. The widow who took out an ad thanking the insurance company for the death benefit gets called out for ‘advertising for a new husband due to the insurance proceeds’. Nobody can understand the actuaries, so just ignore them. Etc. The book was owned by H.A. Schmidt, an insurance agent in Winona Minnestota. There happened to be an ebay auction for some of his cards as I was writing this, and since there’s no other info online about him, I’ll post that he worked with National Union Fire Insurance Company, Firemen’s insurance Company, and looks like his brokerage was called Loyalty Group. 502 East Howard St, Winona Minn. - 1870
Agents' Monetary, Life & Valuation Tables with Valuable Explanations D. Parks Fackler, Consulting Actuary and Accountant Actuarial tables for agents. Though I’ve no idea why an agent would need net premiums or mortality tables. But I guess if you did, hey, just whip out this book. Good for parties, etc.
1 book
Underwriting
How lives were assessed — medical examiner instructions from the 1930s.
11 books
General Insurance
Industry histories, principles, and original-source material on individual companies.
- 1922
The Insurance Guide and Hand-Book Joseph H. Matthews, F.C.I.I. Not really strictly actuarial or agent, this is a comprehensive primer on all types of insurance. The book was owned by London Life (now Canada Life), probably from back in the day when life companies kept libraries of actuarial texts for theirs students to use for exams. Yes, I am old enough to remember that practice. - 1947
Insurance Principles and Practices Robert Reigel, Ph.D (Professor of Statistics and Insurance, University of Buffalo), Jerome S. Miller, B.S., M.B.A. (Insurance Consultant) Another comprehensive primer on life insurance. The book is dedicated to Solomon S. Huebner, a prof at Wharton. S.S. Heubner was a pioneer in actuarial and insurance education, I see his name all over the place on these old books (he wrote many of them). - 1867
Life Insurance Companies Should be Compelled to Invest in the Securities of Those States in Which the Fund Originate Fitz Hugh McMaster, Insurance Commissioner of South Carolina This guy had a real bone to pick with life companies. He variously wrote and spoke on requiring life companies to invest money in the states where they sold insurance. I think I read that this came from his time in the civil war when he tried to get money for the war from life companies – but I can’t find a source for that any longer. - 1921
Life Insurance Solomon S. Huebner, Professor of Insurance, University of Pennsylvania A textbook undertaken by the National Association of Life Underwriters, it’s a comprehensive primer for those new to the life insurance industry. - 1927
Life Insurance: It's Economic and Social Relations, Taxation Harry J. Loman, Professor of Insurance, Wharton School of Finance and Commerce Probably an FSA level text at the time, it’s a technical treatment of all things tax related to life insurance. Solomon S. Heubner also participated in the book. - 1927
Life Insurance: It's Economic and Social Relations, Wills, Trusts and Estates James L. Madden Another FSA-level text (roughly speaking) on wills, trusts, and estates. - 1897
Proceedings of the Celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia Penn Mutual Life Quite a party by all accounts. Showcasing mustachioed men of all sorts. - 1892
Principles and Practices of Life Insurance The Spectator Company Primer on life insurance basics, interest, annuities, etc. Meant more for non-actuaries. The Spectator Company was a prominent life insurance industry publisher back then. There’s a more comprehensive list of all their books at the u of penn site here. Another interesting point, the original owner of this book was actually employed at Mutual Life insurance in Waterloo, Ontario (local to me) and lived in Guelph, Ontario (also local to me). - 1928
The President’s Book — The Story of the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada George H. Harris This is pretty close to ‘original source material’ for the history of Sun Life. It was put out by Sun and covers their history until that date. Lots of info like names, first policies, investment strategies, etc. - 1919
Modern Business, Volume 18: Insurance Edward R. Hardy, Solomon S. Huebner, G.F. Michelbacher, Bruce D. Mudgett This is a textbook from a course on modern business from the Alexander Hamilton Institute in New York (the institute was dissolved in the 1980's). The book outlines beginner/business level knowledge on most aspects of insurance. It's authored by Solomon S. Huebner, a prolific educator at the time. - 1917
Principles of Insurance, Volume I: Life W.F. Gephart This is a textbook from Washington University, intended for use in actuarial courses. It focuses more on the structure of insurance than the actual mathematics.
7 books
Cookbooks
Cookbooks published by insurance companies as customer promotional material.
- 1938
The Universal Cook Books The Universal Life Assurance and Annuity Company - 1920
Canning Guide London Life Insurance Company, Circa Warning: Do not use this antique guide for canning. The canning practices in this guide are outdated and can be deadly. - 1930
Selected Recipes The Ontario Equitable Life & Accident Insurance Company, Circa Interesting, some of the recipes included are from the president of the company's wife! - 1920
Three Meals a Day Met Life, Circa Info on food groups, budgeting and planning for meals, including meals at various pricing levels. Includes a variety of recipes, including quite a few recipes for liver, and even one for peanut butter soup. - 1967
Golden Anniversary Recipes The Lutheran Brotherhood Bond - 1918
Metropolitan Cookbook Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Old school cooking, including boiling vegetables for 45 minutes. - 1925
Metropolitan Cookbook Metropolitan Life insurance Company Including such family favourites as cottage cheese sandwiches as a school lunch for the kids.
Glenn Cooke, BMath, MMT
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