CITY OF LONDON

The first volume of an acclaimed new series, A World of Its Own tells the story of the city's nineteenth century ascent to its position as the world's leading international financial centre. We see the rise of the merchant banks, the growth of the Stock Exchange, the internationalism of the money market, and the characters behind these developments, like the mercurial Nathan Rothschild or the dour Joshua Bates, who consolidated the power of Barings. High history is interwoven with drama: the burning of the Royal Exchange on a snowy night in 1838, the hectic making of fortunes from South American guano; the Baring crisis of 1890, when the city's most respected house was rescued by its keenest rival. Drawing on an unparalleled range of original source material, A World of Its Own brings the City of London for the first time into the mainstream of British and international history.