Dimensions
127 x 199 x 19mm
The Remarkable True Story of John Law - Philanderer, Gambler, Murderer . . . and the Father of Modern Finance
Money, as John Law came to realise, is the most indefinable and controversial of all man-made objects. Not even love has made so many fools of men. Today, money in the form of bank notes, cheques and credit cards is unquestionably accepted as valuable and, for the most part, our confidence in the intrinsically worthless materials of paper and plastic is rarely challenged. Only periodically, when currencies are destabilised and paper money tumbles, is the meaning of money, modern society's life-blood, called into doubt.
From ancient times money had been made from silver and gold. A country's prosperity was limited by the finite amount of precious metal at its disposal. In the 1690s, John Law travelled around Europe, visiting Paris, Amsterdam, Italy and Vienna, making close studies of the economics of each country while living off the proceeds of his gambling. The son of an Edinburgh goldsmith, he was a card-playing, duelling, idealistic beau blessed with charismatic charm, an immaculate wardrobe, a string of female admirers but, above all, incredible mathematical prowess.
Foreseeing that in an established society money need not be of intrinsic value and that its value did not have to be linked with gold, he called for the issue of paper money. His theories were too revolutionary for his native Scotland, however, and Law had to wait until Louis XV gave his blessing to the founding of a private bank with the task of issuing France's first bank notes. In 1714 paper money was introduced to Europe. But that was only the beginning . . .
This tragi-comic story brings to life two fascinating characters who together would change the way the world worked: the inscrutable John Law and mercurial money itself.
