TO MARRY AN ENGLISH LORD <i> by Gail MacColl & Carol Wallace (Workman: $14.95, illustrated) </i>

When the newly wealthy merchants and robber barons found themselves shut out of New York’s “Old Society” after the Civil War, they turned to London, where money, charm and looks could provide entree. This American invasion produced a brisk trade in U.S. dollars and English titles, as New World heiresses wed impoverished British noblemen. The marriage of Consuelo Vanderbilt to the ninth Duke of Marlborough in 1895 represented the apex of this foreign exchange: She became a duchess, while an estimated $15 million of Vanderbilt money (nearly 33 times that sum in today’s inflated currency) restored Blenheim Palace to the splendor that tourists enjoy today. This agreeably silly book, lavishly illustrated with old photographs, cartoons and documents, offers an affectionate look at the fads and folies de grandeur of the Edwardian era.