The Richest Man in Babylon Tells His System

Item Details

Denver, Colorado:, Institute of Financial Education, [ca. 1930s–1940s]., [ca. 1930s–1940s], Stapled illustrated wraps

Near Fine

THE PARABLE BEFORE THE FAMOUS BOOK. 
An early promotional form of George S. Clason's enormously successful Babylonian financial parable, issued separately as a 23-page booklet rather than as the later collected work generally known today as The Richest Man in Babylon.

Clason began circulating his financial lessons in pamphlet form during the 1920s, using stories set in ancient Babylon to present principles of saving, investment, thrift, and financial independence. The Richest Man in Babylon Tells His System became one of the central pieces in that program and was repeatedly distributed by banks, financial institutions, and businesses. 

This example is particularly interesting as an explicitly marked SAMPLE COPY, accompanied by the Institute of Financial Education's promotional letter encouraging bulk purchase of Clason's writings as gifts for customers, employees, associates, friends, and relatives.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:A COMPLETE 23-PAGE PROMOTIONAL BOOKLET. 

• Cream textured stapled wrappers with a colored red-and-yellow Babylonian-style pictorial panel incorporating winged figures, standing figures, cuneiform-inspired decoration, and a chariot.
• 4.75 by 7.75 inches; 23 pages. 
• Illustrated internally with black-and-white Babylonian scenes accompanying Clason's parable.
• The opening presentation leaf provides space for inscription beneath ‘Presented to’, followed by the wish that the coming years bring the recipient ‘the treasures of Babylon.’ Below appears the prominent designation SAMPLE COPY, followed by promotional language emphasizing thrift and self-advancement.
• Accompanied by a separate printed promotional letter from the Institute of Financial Education, Commonwealth Building, Denver, Colorado, encouraging the use of Clason's financial publications as holiday gifts and specifically directing prospective purchasers to ‘read this sample.’

CONDITION: NEAR FINE. Minor soiling to the wrappers; otherwise remarkably clean and well preserved. Stapled binding sound; contents clean and attractive. Promotional letter also well preserved.

A SAMPLE COPY WITH SALES LETTER. 
Unlike an ordinary distribution copy, this example is designated SAMPLE COPY and retains the separate Institute of Financial Education promotional letter explaining the purpose for which the specimen was supplied.

The letter promotes Clason's writings as gifts intended to encourage future financial success and specifically recommends Gold Ahead in cloth or a Morocco-grained leather gift edition. Its survival with the booklet preserves the commercial setting in which this copy was distributed. The presentation space remains unused.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SIGNIFICANCE: FROM FINANCIAL PAMPHLET TO PERSONAL-FINANCE CLASSIC.
Clason's familiar title has a publishing history easily obscured by the later success of the collected book. His Babylonian financial stories initially circulated as individual pamphlets beginning in the 1920s, frequently distributed by banks and other businesses as educational and promotional literature. 

The surviving sample designation and accompanying solicitation letter make this copy particularly useful evidence of how Clason's financial philosophy was marketed and distributed.

GENRES: Personal Finance, Financial Education, Business Literature, Parables, Promotional Literature, Advertising Ephemera.

SUBJECTS: George S. Clason, The Richest Man in Babylon, Personal Finance, Financial Education, Thrift, Saving, Investment, Wealth Building, Institute of Financial Education.

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