Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Allen, Frederick Lewis. The Lords of Creation. Harper & Brothers, 1935.
Price: US$199.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Octovo hardcover in red cloth, tight and square spine/binding, pages clean and unfoxed, no marks or tears, the coverrs have light wear, a bit of fading, else VG, no DJ. About the great economic/corporate expansion between 1890s and 1930s and the collapse. Involved: the Morgans, Harriman, the 'overlords', Seven Fat Years, Building Pyramids, Bankers, Downfall, Hoover. Uncommon book; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 483pp pages
Seller: Mossback Books, hartland, MI, U.S.A.
Frederick Lewis Allen. The Lords of Creation. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1935.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: History of the American financial and banking sector leading up to the Great Depression. Stated First Edition with I-K printed below. No dust jacket. Fading to spine. Fraying to head and heel of spine with three small 1-2 cm tears at top and bottom edge. Minor wear to corners. Hinges exposed along gutter between front paste-down and FFEP. But no loose pages and binding is otherwise firm. Gilt lettering on front cover is reasonably bright. All illustrations are present. No ownership marks or inscriptions to inside pages. sh2
Seller: Ethan Daniel Books, Toronto, ON, Canada
Allen, Frederick Lewis. The Lords of Creation. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1935.
Price: US$275.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First edition stated with I-K present. Red boards with faded titles to spine. One half inch tear to top front gutter, front hinge loose with split in paper. KRM/Econ
Seller: Bookplate, Chestertown, MD, U.S.A.
ALLEN, Frederick Lewis. The Lords of Creation. Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1935.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition. xii, 483pp. Illustrated from black and white photographs. Red cloth with gilt-stamped title on front board and spine, blind embossed publisher device on bottom corner on front board. Light bumping on the spine ends, cracking in the gutter of the title page, a faint paperclip impression on the front fly, thus very good, lacking the scarce dust jacket. "The story of the immense financial and corporate expansion which took place in the United States between the depression of the eighteen-nineties and the crisis of the nineteen-thirties". A handsome copy.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Allen, Frederick Lewis. The Lords of Creation. Harper & Brothers, New York and London, 1935.
Price: US$550.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First printing (States First Edition on the copyright page with I-K code). The spine ends are a bit worn and the spine very slightly sunned. Otherwise a fine, unmarked copy in a square, tight binding with hinges intact. A very handsome copy. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Seller: Banjo Booksellers, IOBA, Andover, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$650.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Hard Cover, Red cloth boards with gilt title to cover and spine, embossed seal in lower right front corner, 483 pp., Illustrated with photos and charts, stated First Edition, First Printing, I-K (September 1935), indexed, no dust jacket. Book Condition: Good, covers rubbed, scuffed and light soil, corners bumped and frayed, spine faded, spine shaken, front hinge cracked at title page, back hinge intact, top dust dulled, soil to text blocks, pages lightly tanned otherwise clean and unmarked. Contents: Preface, I. Morgan Calls the Tune, II. The Harriman Challange, III. The Overlords, IV. Panic, V. Counter-Offensive, VI. Pujo, VII. War, VIII. The Seven Fat Years, IX. Building the Pyramids, X. Bankers, Salesmen, and Speculators, XI. Into the Stratosphere, XII. The Overlords, 1929, XIII. Downfall and Confusion, XIV. All Change, Appendix: Sources and Obligations, Index, -- end. 483 pp. About the Author: Frederick Lewis Allen (July 5, 1890 – February 13, 1954) was the editor of Harper's Magazine and also notable as an American historian of the first half of the twentieth century. His specialty was writing about what was at the time recent and popular history. Allen was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied at Groton, graduated from Harvard University in 1912 and received his Master's in 1913. He taught at Harvard briefly thereafter before becoming assistant editor of the Atlantic Monthly in 1914, and then managing editor of The Century in 1916. He began working for Harper's in 1923, becoming editor-in-chief in 1941, a position he held until shortly before his death, aged 63, in New York City. His wife, Dorothy Penrose Allen, died just prior to the 1931 publication of his best-known book, Only Yesterday. Allen's popularity coincided with increased interest in history among the book-buying public of the 1920s and 1930s. This interest was met, not by the university-employed historian, but by an amateur historian writing in his free time. Aside from Allen, these historians included Carl Sandburg, Bernard DeVoto, Douglas Southall Freeman, Henry F. Pringle, and Allan Nevins (before his Columbia appointment). His most famous book was the enormously popular Only Yesterday (1931), which chronicled American life in the 1920s. Since Yesterday (1940), a sort of sequel that covered the Depression of the 1930s, was also a bestseller. The 1933 Hollywood film "Only Yesterday" was ostensibly based on his book, but actually used only its timeline, with a fictional plot adapted from a Stefan Zweig novel. He wrote the Introduction to Dr Mabel S Ulrich's collection of essays by notable woman writers of the day, including Mary Borden, Margaret Culkin Banning, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Susan Ertz, E. M. Delafield, Rebecca West, Isabel Paterson and Storm Jameson, The More I See Of Men (Harper & Brothers, 1932). His last and most ambitious book, The Big Change, was a social history of the United States from 1900 to 1950. (He had originally written a Harper's article about how America had changed between 1850 and 1950, but decided to limit the chronological scope of his book.) Allen also wrote two biographies, the first of which was about Paul Revere Reynolds, a literary agent of the era. This work is notable because it contains a chapter about Stephen Crane, but is difficult to find because it was privately published. In 1950, Allen was one of five narrators for the RKO Radio Pictures documentary film, The Golden Twenties, produced by Time, Inc.
Seller: Alanpuri Trading, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$800.00 + shipping
Description: Red cloth with embossed seal in lower right ront cover, embossed title upon spine. xii, 483 pp., (3) Illustrated by 16 b&w photographs on 8 plates. The previous owner of this book was Harry L. Wells, of Evanston, IL. Wells was an Alumnus of Northwestern University and served it in varying capacities, including being appointed Business Manager in 1934. He has signed the book with the address of 1936 Sheridan Road. A pleasant surprise to find this as such a sturdy, clean and desirable example of this scarce title. Quite suitable for gift giving though the spine lettering is somewhat faded. Preface, 14 chapters, appendix and index. A scarce and classic financial history of US (1890-1929) written at the height of the Great Depression. Allen was an historian educated at Groton and Harvard, as well as Associate Editor of Harpers. As stated elsewhere: Frederick Lewis Allen's insightful financial history of the United Statesâ"from the late 1800s through the stock market collapse of 1929â"remains a seminal work on what brought on America's worst economic disaster: the Great Depression. In the decades following the Civil War, America entered an era of unprecedented corporate expansion, with ultimate financial power in the hands of a few wealthy industrialists who exploited the capitalist system for everything it was worth. The Rockefellers, Fords, Morgans, and Vanderbilts were the "lords of creation" who, along with like-minded magnates, controlled the economic destiny of the country, unrestrained by regulations or moral imperatives. Through a combination of foresight, ingenuity, ruthlessness, and greed, America's giants of industry remolded the US economy in their own preferred image. In so doing, they established their absolute power and authority, ensuring that theyâ"and they aloneâ"would control the means of production, transportation, energy, and commerceâ"thereby setting the stage for the most devastating global financial collapse in history. As Gretchen Morgenson thoughtfully states in her introduction, "It is not immediately clear why the frequency and severity of financial scandals is increasing in the United States. What is clear is that we need to understand the origins of these disasters, as well as the policies and people that bring them on. . . . While distant actions may seem unrelated to current events, rereading about the past almost always provides surprising insights into the present." The Lords of Creation, first published in the midst of the Great Depression, when the financial catastrophe was still painfully fresh, is a fascinating story of bankers, railroad tycoons, steel magnates, speculators, scoundrels, and robber barons. It is a tale of innovation and shocking exploitationâ"and a sobering reminder that history can indeed repeat itself. VG A solid clean copy, previous owner's name inked on inside of front cover, no other marks, top and bottom of spine solid with no wear or tears. No surprises First edition (stated) with I-K below statement.
Seller: Mullen Books, ABAA, Marietta, PA, U.S.A.
Allen, Frederick Lewis. The Lords of Creation.. Harper and Brothers, Publishers, New York, 1935.
Price: US$2200.00 + shipping
Description: First edition of Allen's classic account of the financial history leading up to the Great Crash. Octavo, original cloth. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light rubbing and wear. Illustrated from 16Âphotographs on 8 plates. Scarce in the original jacket. In Lords of Creation, he expansively "carries the narrative of Only Yesterday [1931] back to the pre-WWI financial and social episodes" and forward into the New Deal. Allen vividly profiles leading Wall Street titans and details "the rapid growth of Standard Oil, the panic of 1907, the 'Money Trust investigation' of 1912 and Federal Reserve legislation⦠the general theme is the immense financial power which became concentrated in the hands of a few commanding financiers" (New York Times). In the decades following the Civil War, America entered an era of unprecedented corporate expansion, with ultimate financial power in the hands of a few wealthy industrialists who exploited the system for everything it was worth. The Rockefellers, Fords, Morgans, and Vanderbilts were the âlords of creationâ who, along with like-minded magnates, controlled the economic destiny of the country, unrestrained by regulations or moral imperatives. Through a combination of foresight, ingenuity, ruthlessness, and greed, Americaâs giants of industry remolded the US economy in their own image. They established their power and authority, ensuring that theyâ"and they aloneâ"would control the means of production, transportation, energy, and commerceâ"creating the conditions for the stock market collapse of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Allen, Frederick Lewis. The Lords of Creation. Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York, 1935.
Price: US$2800.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First edition. xii, 483 pp. Publisher's crimson cloth with gilt lettering. Fine in Very Good unclipped ($3.00) metallic gold dust jacket, chipped along edges with a bit of wrinkling and dulling to spine panel, some scuffs. Faint stamp to front free endpaper, book may have been a review or publisher's file copy. Rare in jacket.A secret history of American finance from 1900 to the Great Depression, covering Wall Street's misdeeds and connivings. In 2014 it was reissued by media critic and scholar Mark Crispin Miller's Forbidden Bookshelf imprint.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.