The Magic of Wealth is an 1815 novel by the British writer Thomas Skinner Surr, published in three volumes by Cadell & Davies in London. It focuses on the development of a new resort town by financial speculators. Surr negatively contrasts the speculative banker behind the development with the traditional elite represented by the local squire.The Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature p.1358 Thematically it is similar to Jane Austen's unfinished Sanditon (1817) and Walter Scott's Saint Ronan's Well (1823).Jackson-Houlston p.148 Surr's criticism of banks and financial speculation was a common theme in other novels of the era, including Thomas Gaspey's Calthorpe (1821).Michie p.152
References
Bibliography Burwick, Frederick Goslee, Nancy Moore & Hoeveler Diane Long . The Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature. John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Jackson-Houlston, C.M. Gendering Walter Scott: Sex, Violence and Romantic Period Writing. Taylor & Francis, 2017. Michie, Ranald. War On Wealth, The: Fact And Fiction In British Finance Since 1800. World Scientific, 2023.