plutography
n. A book — or, more generally, a literary genre — that examines the lifestyles of rich and famous people.
Etymology
pluto- ("wealth") + -graphy ("writing")
Examples
1995
MAGAZINES: Only work-related. Used to inhale homemaking/interiors plutography but now too peripatetic to make dream-houses a realistic prospect.
—Sheena McDonald, “My media,” The Guardian, March 20, 1995
1988
This passion for art collecting, like empire building, is a part of "the money fever of the 1980s, which has penetrated every level of New York society," novelist Tom Wolfe said the other night at the Manhattan Institute dinner. "It is the age of plutography, where the acts of the rich turn them into great stars."
—Robert Lenzner, “Art prices mirror ‘the age of plutography’,” The Boston Globe, November 30, 1988
1988 (earliest)
Moviegoers throng to see Wall Street, director Oliver Stone's cinematic expose of the corrupt world of insider trading. Bookstores display a growing number of works on business and a bumper crop of "plutographies" — biographies of wealthy, hot-shot executives.
—John Partridge, “The war engulfing Canada's newspapers demonstrates that when money makes news…NEWS MAKES MONEY,” The Globe and Mail, February 06, 1988
Notes
Plutography combines the prefix pluto- (from the Greek word ploutos, "wealth") with the suffix -graphy (from the Greek verb graphein, "to write").
Posted: July 12, 1997