The City Of London Volume 1: A World of its Own 1815-1890

Not read by me but purchased as a gift for a researcher. He's happy.

Reading all four volumes of The City of London was a real slog. There is much interesting detail, but the set has two major faults: (1) the author does far too much quoting from original sources, much of which is of dubious relevance; and(2) the author offers far too little analysis of the importance of what he is observing. So, I only recommend this to someone who wants to read lots of gossip about long past financiers or to someone with incurable insomnia. Far better to read, say Ferguson's biography of the Rothschilds.

A quite wonderful first volume! The reseach is outstanding..