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no doubt inheriting the enthusiasm from his father, Henri (1872-1947), who left behind not only plays, but an unpublished detective story and a film script.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 »
