THE MERCHANT BANKERS by Joseph Wechsberg. 365 pages. Little, Brown. $6.95.
London's dynastic Hambro family, the world's biggest merchant bankers, started their moneymaking art two centuries ago, when a Hambro sea captain got word that the Queen of Denmark had died in Paris; he promptly cornered the market for crape in Copenhagen. Britain's Baring banking clan made a great leap forward by arranging an $11,250,000 bond issue for Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase. The Rothschilds of Paris and London grew to prominence by smuggling millions in gold through Napoleon's line to Wellington's forces in...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
