The Costs of Pleasure

The costs of the pleasures of visiting Bath in the Georgian period were not only the price of tickets to the balls, of tips for the Sedan chairmen and many other expenses, but also the external costs to the, often colonial, people and places, from where the wealth that paid the bills came from. The book explores these different costs through the cash books and other records belonging to Jacob and Priscilla Franks, a wealthy couple from an Anglo-American-Jewish merchant family. Bath was visited at least eight times by the Franks between 1777 and 1808 (in between their visiting other fashionable resorts) and the book tracks the costs of their activities in Bath and how their amusements changed over time, as they grew older and the city changed as a resort. The Franks' wealth was predicated on colonial power involving land speculation in America, diamond trading in India and particularly ownership of a sugar plantation in Jamaica. The Franks converted to Christianity, as did many of their relations, which helped them to be accepted into Bath's polite society despite undercurrents of prejudice against Jews. The book investigates both their family relationships, especially during crises such as divorce, inquisitions of lunacy and exile from America, and how Bath was the centre of their social networks. The Franks' story gives an insight into life in Bath and other resorts in Jane Austen's time.