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Sources for business history: plans of New Court

Sources for art history: Catalogue of the pictures of Alfred de Rothschild 1901

Sources for yachting history: Plans for Nathaniel von Rothschild's yacht Veglia 1905

Sources for natural history: Walter 2nd Lord Rothschild and his zebra carriage: c.1910

Sources for global financial history: Map of lines of the Brazil Railway Company: c.1920

Sources for business history: index cards to bank files

Sources for social history: Rothschild Hospital Paris: 1920s

Sources for business history: detail of a Rothschild bond coupon

Sources for architectural history: Halton House: 1890s

Sources for the history of travel: Lionel de Rothschild's tours of Spain: 1909

Sources for local history: Tring Park: c.1900

Sources for Royal history: shooting party with Edward Prince of Wales: 1893

Sources for political history: Lionel de Rothschild: first Jewish MP: 1858

Sources for sporting history: St Amant winner of the Derby: 1904

Sources for local history: gardeners at Aston Clinton: 1899

Sources for Rothschild family history: Lionel de Rothschild's yacht Rhodora: 1927

Sources for London history: entrance to New Court: 1965

Sources for design history: plans for Lionel de Rothschild's Rolls-Royce: 1930

Sources for business history: Rothschild gold bars produced by the Royal Mint Refinery: 1930s

Sources for business history: letters of August Belmont Rothschild Agent in New York: 1860s

Literature

Writers and poets have, from the early days of Rothschild success, been drawn into the circle. In Paris, Heinrich Heine, Balzac and Georges Sand were regular visitors to the Paris house of James de Rothschild (1792-1868). Both Balzac and Heine borrowed money from him. Balzac dedicated his Roueries d'un creancier and Un homme d'affaires to him.

In England, Disraeli's novels carry many almost transparent references to the Rothschilds and in the household of Louise de Rothschild (1821-1910), at Aston Clinton, Dickens, Matthew Arnold and Thackeray were frequent visitors. Her daughter Constance de Rothschild (1843-1931) turned from time to time in her life to versifying and story-telling. Her Buckinghamshire Story of 1663, published anonymously in 1875, created an historical romance around a painting of Nell Gwynne which hung in her cousin Natty's home at Tring Park. Similarly, her Thoughts in Verse, which appeared in 1920, included many short pieces which had been generated by reflections on her childhood in and around Aston Clinton.

One of the most successful literary members of the family was Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988), no doubt inheriting the enthusiasm from his father, Henri (1872-1947), who left behind not only plays, but an unpublished detective story and a film script. Philippe's many works include translations of Elizabethan plays and poetry and of the English playwright, Christopher Fry, as well as his own short stories and poems, one of which, Vendange, inspired a 3-act ballet by Milhaud, performed in 1972.

In more recent times, Nadine, Baroness Edmond, (b.1932) has published, among her other works of autobiography and her books on social etiquette, a romantic novel, Natara, which appeared in 1994. Natara, the daughter of an English consul in India, returns to the London society of the 1950s and finds herself caught between two very different suitors. Hannah Rothschild (b.1962) is a successful author and documentary film maker.

For a list of works by the family, please Go to The Rothschild Family Microsite: Bibliography »

Image from Poèmes by Philippe de Rothschild published in the 1950s.

Image from Poèmes by Philippe de Rothschild published in the 1950s.