This is the story of the “privilegierte und octroyierte Wiener Kommerzial-, Leih und Wechselbank,” often called the “Schwarzenberg Bank” by contemporaries, after one of its major shareholders, Josef Johann Nepomuk Anton Karl Fürst zu Schwarzenberg. The Danish merchant Henning Bargum had seized the initiative for the foundation of the banking house. He was supported by some influential members of the high nobility, among them—besides Prince Schwarzenberg—Franz Gundaker zu Colloredo-Mansfeld and Count Friedrich Nostitz-Rieneck. The first bank privilege was issued in December 1786, and the shareholder contract was signed in May 1787. In 1812 the Schwarzenberg Bank was liquidated; however, it was only deleted from the company register in 1820. Herbert Matis has collected a wealth of details about the structure and the business of this banking house from the archives that are presented in this book.

The Schwarzenberg Bank was founded as the first joint-stock bank in Vienna. Among the first corporations in Austria, the bank accumulated a considerable share of the capital available primarily among the nobility. The institute was foremost engaged in traditional banking business: currency exchange and speculation, deposit banking, and the extension of credit. The bank expanded into other business activities over the course of time, primarily into mercantile credit. Whether the industrial foundation of the bank was actually so important, as the subtitle of the book may suggest, is debatable. The only greater industry financing was a start-up loan for the foundation of the Pottendorfer Garnmanufakturgesellschaft, a cotton mill, in 1802, which was initiated by John Thornton (Wiener Kommerzial-, Leih- und Wechselbank) and Baron Glave-Kolbielski. Other investments in the textile and the sugar industries were rather small endeavors and included no start-up loans.

It is to the author's credit to disclose the little-known history of an interesting bank at the beginning of the industrialization process in Austria. In the greatest detail Herbert Matis connects the activities of the bank with the process of industrialization. Furthermore, this study is based on archival sources that are rather difficult to access. This book contributes to our knowledge about the process of industrialization in the Habsburg monarchy and its financing.