"For fifty years Mr. Schiff (1847-1920) lived a full and many-sided life, dealing with personages of the first rank - statesmen, financiers, philanthropists, educators, and scholars. I hope that the record presented may serve as a footnote to the history of the period in which he lived, for here and there will be found aspects of important matters hitherto unknown." - Preface. Based largely upon Mr. Schiff's extensive written correspondence. Jacob Schiff was a prominent New York Jewish financier who headed Kuhn, Loeb & Company for many years, beginning in 1885. In his book "Trotsky in New York 1917: A Radical on the Eve of Revolution", author Kenneth Ackerman explains how Schiff and other New York Jewish bankers were alleged to have "paid Trotsky to overthrow the [Russian] government and create Bolshevism". This set is dated 1929 on its title pages and 1928 on its copyright pages, thus we assume it to be a reprint of the 1928 first edition. x, [2], 398, 396 pp. Index. Twelve black and white plates. Light wear to clean and unmarked books. Average wear to dust jackets preserved in mylar. Two-inch opening to bottom of page 8 in Volume II. Narrow openings to binding at page 226 of Volume I and page 216 of Volume II. Laid-in is a typed slip indicating this set to have been donated by Mrs.Jacob H. Schiff. Also laid in is a small photo-clipping of Schiff's son, Mortimer, hand-dated 1931. A quality example of this important personal history.; Sm 4to