Letters from A Self-Made Merchant to His Son [Hardcover]

George Lorimer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 25, 1995

A timeless classic of advice from father to son. Now with an introduction by James Schlesinger.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Perhaps this book was a big hit when it first appeared in 1902, but it is preachy and unquaintly old-fashioned to the contemporary reader. Lorimer was an editor at the Saturday Evening Post, and this appears to be nothing more than a puffed-up piece from that magazine. The first "letter," written to Pierrepont Graham, a freshman at Harvard, by his pork-packing father in Chicago, contains all sorts of fatherly advice about college life, and what a young man should and should not do. But, as Pierrepont ages and goes to work in Dad's company, the homilies continue with few variations, and the folksy examples (one per chapter) of how not to behave, plus endless metaphors, become boring, and the book's conceit wears thin. There is much advice (indeed, that is all the book contains), but as Graham senior himself notes, it is the same advice that young men always hear. However, there are a few bright spots. Graham's rules for business conversation are useful and still timely: "Have something to say. Say it. Stop talking."
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

These fictional correspondences first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and were collected into a single volume in 1902. With its portraits of small-town life, humor, and wisdom, this title was a huge success at a time when our country was a simpler place. Today, this serves as a sterling piece of Americana.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Inc. (January 25, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895264757
• ISBN-13: 978-0895264756
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,371,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a gem, April 29, 2005

By 

Francatelli - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters From a Self-Made Merchant to His Son (Hardcover)

The PW reviewer got it wrong. This is a little-known gem, in its way as valuable as that never-outdated masterpiece, Edwin Lefevre's "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator". There are many people who've gone broke working for themselves or having given credit to others because they felt they had to, or who spent the fortune that they hadn't earned yet and never would, who could have used the advice in "Letters from...". It is very much not "the advice that young men always hear", especially now when Daddy can again buy them into the best schools, term papers are bought, credit is something to get as much of as possible and sloughing debt and emerging clean and bright in a new venture is just business. There is an attitude here that is quite foreign to the modern business-school-educated mind (but not to many successful in business), and a form of telling that has its own charm. If only for the swearing done then, and the realistic activities of the son who the letters are addressed to in the story that unfolds as it goes along, it's a fun read. But because the homilies are thickly spread throughout, it's the kind of read to not hog out on in one sitting.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Enjoyable Book from 100 Years Ago, July 28, 2006

By 

Bill Hawkins - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters from a Self Made Merchant to His Son (Paperback)

I read the editorial review from "Publisher's Weekely" and had to respond to their narrow minded critique. I found this to be a very informative and entertaining book, and I found the advice as relative today as it was over 100 years ago. Just because more than a century has passed since the publication of this book, it doesn't mean that principles of right and wrong have changed as well. The examples are obviously dated, but the principles surely are not. I will pass this book on for my son to read in the next few years in the hopes he may learn from it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lot of common sense per square inch!, December 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Letters from a Self-made Merchant to his Son (Hardcover)

I have been reading this book (an OLD copy!) once a year since I was a senior in high school, at the behest of my father who was one of the wisest persons I've ever known. The old man exhibits a rare understanding of human nature, and is able to pack more common sense into every square inch than too many of us gain in a lifetime. I have found it to be a great gift for high school or college graduates, for young people trying to find themselves, for some older folks still grappling with some basic issues. A great book for your personal library, and to share!