("A Conspiracy of Paper")

[fiefoe]

Despite its clever title and its catchy premises, ('The first stock market crash in the English-speaking world{Where else??} is about to burst,' says The New York Times Book Review,) it wasn't a good book to bring along on an airplane. David Liss does have plenty of interesting historical factoids to impart, but even there, "Quicksilver" has the book beat.

__ 'Prig' was a term for thieves.
__ Fashionable strolls in St. James's Park. (ref. the Gainsborough in the Frick)
__ 'Double-crossing' originated from the fatal ledger of one Jonathan Wild. (ref)
__ Street gangs like the Mohock used to rule in the dark. (ref)
__ In addition to Fleet Street, there's also Grub Street.
__ The protagonist was based on a Jewish pugilist, Daniel Mendoza. (ref. dear old "New Concept English")

Period vocabulary: 'mercer', 'stock-jobber', 'peruke', 'lickerish', 'phlebotomy'.