Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Business Men

This publication is not only scarce, but special. First of all, throughout are the introductory initials and tail pieces, plus the elaborate title page, all designed in color by Dard Hunter. Secondly, the Homes of Great Business Men, commonly for sale, dealt with one business man and were bound in boards or paper. Our "Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Business Men" is a compilation of the six previously published businessmen (Robert Owen, James Oliver, Stephen Girard, Mayer A Rothschild, Philip DArmour, and John Jacob Astor) and is handsomely bound in three quarter dark tan suede and marbled paper over boards. This Volume XXIV – Done into a Book by the Roycrofters at Their Shop Which is in East Aurora, Erie County, New York – published in 1909 by the Roycrofters, measures approximately 6 inches wide by 8 inches tall by 1 3/8 inches thick, has the title on the spine in gilt, and contains 221 pages of text and portraits of the seven of business greats (with the Armour biography enhanced by both Philip D. Armour and J. Goden Armour). Each section is uniformly formatted as follows: the portrait frontispiece, the half title (verso blank), one or more featured quotes (verso blank) and the beginning page of the text. The featured quotes give sound advice for then and now, such as: You benefit yourself only as you benefit humanity – James Oliver; Anybody can cut prices, but it takes brains to make a better article – Philip D. Armour; I do not value fortune. The love of labor is my sheet anchor. I work that I may forget, and forgetting, I am happy --- Steven Girard.

The book is a keystone for any serious Hubbard collector. The book's spine labels, as well as the head and foot of the spine, are rubbed, and the cover's corners a bit worn, but otherwise the book is in near fine condition.

A brief description of the business men addressed in the book is as follows:

• Robert Owen (1771 – 1858), a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist and social reformer, was one founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement.
• James Oliver (1823 –1908) was an American inventor and industrialist best known for his creation of the South Bend Iron Works, which was reincorporated as the Oliver Farm Equipment Company after his death.
• Stephen Girard (1750 – 1831) was a French and naturalized American, philanthropist and banker. He personally saved the U. S. government from financial collapse during the War of1812.
• Mayer A Rothschild (1744 – 1812) was a German Jewish banker and the founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty.
• Philip D Armour (1832 – 1901) was an American meatpacking industrialist who founded the Chicago-based firm of Armour & Company.
• John Jacob Astor (1763 – 1848) was a German-American business man, merchant, real estate mogul and investor who mainly made his fortune in a fur trade monopoly and by investing in real estate in and around New York City. [Wikipedia]

The illustrations accompanying this description show the Front Cover, the Title Page, the Portrait of Robert Owen (a similar portrait appears for every "business man"), and two (2) typical 2-page spreads of text.

Elbert Hubbard (1856 – 1915) was an American writer, publisher, artist and philosopher. Hubbard is best known as the founder of the Roycroft artisan community in East Aurora, NY, an influential exponent of the Arts And Crafts Movement. Among Hubbard's many publications were the fourteen-volume work Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great and the short publication A Message to Garcia. [Wikipedia]

Dard Hunter (1883 – 1966) was an American authority on printing, paper and paper-making, especially by hand, using sixteenth century tools and techniques. He is known for, among other things, the production of 200 copies of his book Old Papermaking, for which he prepared all aspects, i.e., writing the text, designing and casting the type, did the typesetting, handmade the paper, and printed and bound that book.