Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son

A modern-English edition of George Horace Lorimer’s 1902 collection of witty, practical letters on work, ambition, business judgment, and success. These letters became famous for their hardheaded humor and plainspoken advice. This edition keeps the sharpness of the original while making the prose easier for modern readers.

Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son blends comedy with instruction. It is full of advice on commercial life, salesmanship, energy, character, and the difference between appearance and substance in business.

For readers interested in early business literature, practical self-help, or American advice writing before the motivational era, it is lively and unusually entertaining.