Reminiscences of a Stock Operator -
Edwin Lef
1923 - George H. Doran Company, New York - First Edition [colophon containing GHD on copyright page]
First edition of the most-widely acclaimed stock market classic of all time, housed in a bespoke morocco clamshell case.
‘The best book I’ve read’ - Martin Zweig.
The thinly disguised fictionalised biography of Jesse Livermore [1877-1940], one of the greatest speculators who ever lived. He is famous for correctly predicting both the 1907 and 1929 stock market crashes. For his 1907 call, Livermore made $3 million, which is equivalent to almost $70 million today. After his 1929 trade, he was worth $100 million, which is equivalent to over $1.2 billion today.
‘I learned early that there is nothing new in Wall Street. There can’t be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again. I’ve never forgotten that.… The fact that I remember that way is my way of capitalizing experience.’ ‘The sucker has always tried to get something for nothing, and the appeal in all booms is frankly to the gambling instinct aroused by cupidity and spurred by a pervasive prosperity. People who look for easy money invariably find that it cannot be found on this sordid earth.’
‘The game does not change and neither does human nature.’
‘Reminiscences is still one of my all-time favorites’ - Kenneth L. Fisher Forbes.
‘A font of investing wisdom’ - Alan Greenspan.
‘It has always seemed to me the height of damfoolishness to trade on tips.’
Jesse Livermore (1877-1940) ‘was a legend on Wall Street. When he was fifteen, he started with his first trade of $3.12 and he was a millionaire before he was thirty. He called the great market crash of 1907, where he made three million dollars in a single day...He cornered entire commodity markets: cotton, corn, wheat, where he actually owned every bale or bushel in existence in the United States. He was able to call market tops; he went short the 1929 crash and made a hundred million dollars in profit’ - from the Introduction to Livermore expert Richard Smitten's 2006 annotated edition of How to Trade in Stocks.
‘In late 1939, [Livermore] decided to write his own book about his trading strategies, and in March 1940 Livermore's book entitled How to Trade in Stocks was published. The book did not sell well, mostly because there was little interest in the stock market at that time due to the lingering effects of the Great Depression. The original work, is however, a great resource for all aspiring traders to study. Just months after the publication of his book, on November 28, 1940 Jesse Livermore, in a deep depression, committed suicide. He died instantly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. For Livermore, the stock market was the greatest, most complex challenge in the world. His desire and passion was in beating the game of Wall Street. Livermore believed that stock speculation was more an art form than pure scientific reason. Jesse Livermore is regarded by many as probably the greatest stock trader ever’ - John Boik, Lessons from the Greatest Stock Traders of All Time (11).
George Edwin Henry Lefèvre [1871-1943] born in Colón, Colombia (now Republic of Panama). Sent to the United States as a boy, after University he training as a mining engineer. However, at the age of nineteen, he began his career as a journalist and eventually became a stockbroker, as well. Following his father's death, he inherited some wealth and became an independent investor. A collection of Lefèvre's short stories were published (1901) under the title ‘Wall Street Stories’. His most famous work Reminiscences of a Stock Operator began as a series of twelve articles published between 1922 and 1923 in The Saturday Evening Post.
Provenance: Two former ownership signature to the front pastedown and front free endpaper.
Large octavo (book size 22.8x15.7cm), pp. [2] 299 [3].In publisher’s straw coloured cloth, spine lettered in gilt, upper cover lettered and decorated in blind. Condition: Near fine, light spotting to front panel, minor rubbing to corners and spine ends, gilt faded, in fine case. Ref: 111945 Price: HK$ 70,000
‘The best book I’ve read’ - Martin Zweig.
The thinly disguised fictionalised biography of Jesse Livermore [1877-1940], one of the greatest speculators who ever lived. He is famous for correctly predicting both the 1907 and 1929 stock market crashes. For his 1907 call, Livermore made $3 million, which is equivalent to almost $70 million today. After his 1929 trade, he was worth $100 million, which is equivalent to over $1.2 billion today.
‘I learned early that there is nothing new in Wall Street. There can’t be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again. I’ve never forgotten that.… The fact that I remember that way is my way of capitalizing experience.’ ‘The sucker has always tried to get something for nothing, and the appeal in all booms is frankly to the gambling instinct aroused by cupidity and spurred by a pervasive prosperity. People who look for easy money invariably find that it cannot be found on this sordid earth.’
‘The game does not change and neither does human nature.’
‘Reminiscences is still one of my all-time favorites’ - Kenneth L. Fisher Forbes.
‘A font of investing wisdom’ - Alan Greenspan.
‘It has always seemed to me the height of damfoolishness to trade on tips.’
Jesse Livermore (1877-1940) ‘was a legend on Wall Street. When he was fifteen, he started with his first trade of $3.12 and he was a millionaire before he was thirty. He called the great market crash of 1907, where he made three million dollars in a single day...He cornered entire commodity markets: cotton, corn, wheat, where he actually owned every bale or bushel in existence in the United States. He was able to call market tops; he went short the 1929 crash and made a hundred million dollars in profit’ - from the Introduction to Livermore expert Richard Smitten's 2006 annotated edition of How to Trade in Stocks.
‘In late 1939, [Livermore] decided to write his own book about his trading strategies, and in March 1940 Livermore's book entitled How to Trade in Stocks was published. The book did not sell well, mostly because there was little interest in the stock market at that time due to the lingering effects of the Great Depression. The original work, is however, a great resource for all aspiring traders to study. Just months after the publication of his book, on November 28, 1940 Jesse Livermore, in a deep depression, committed suicide. He died instantly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. For Livermore, the stock market was the greatest, most complex challenge in the world. His desire and passion was in beating the game of Wall Street. Livermore believed that stock speculation was more an art form than pure scientific reason. Jesse Livermore is regarded by many as probably the greatest stock trader ever’ - John Boik, Lessons from the Greatest Stock Traders of All Time (11).
George Edwin Henry Lefèvre [1871-1943] born in Colón, Colombia (now Republic of Panama). Sent to the United States as a boy, after University he training as a mining engineer. However, at the age of nineteen, he began his career as a journalist and eventually became a stockbroker, as well. Following his father's death, he inherited some wealth and became an independent investor. A collection of Lefèvre's short stories were published (1901) under the title ‘Wall Street Stories’. His most famous work Reminiscences of a Stock Operator began as a series of twelve articles published between 1922 and 1923 in The Saturday Evening Post.
Provenance: Two former ownership signature to the front pastedown and front free endpaper.
Large octavo (book size 22.8x15.7cm), pp. [2] 299 [3].In publisher’s straw coloured cloth, spine lettered in gilt, upper cover lettered and decorated in blind. Condition: Near fine, light spotting to front panel, minor rubbing to corners and spine ends, gilt faded, in fine case. Ref: 111945 Price: HK$ 70,000