In 1940, Edward Jerome Dies wrote the preface to Jesse Livermore’s How to Trade in Stocks.
Five years earlier Dies had written Street of Adventure examining the careers of fourteen of Wall Street’s biggest names, including Jesse Livermore, who Dies described as a “daring genius”.
From its preface, Street of Adventure looks like an interesting read:
“Swiftly and with deft strokes Mr. Dies etches the lives of fourteen colorful characters – great and near great – actors in the quick drama of western finance.…
We watch the rise and fall of the incredible Insull, and the blink at the collapse of his cyclonian empire. We see the dauntless Alexander Legge battle with Hoover millions to stem the onrush of economic ruin.
Through the pages strut such almost legendary figures as Bet-a-million Gates, Joe Leiter, and Doc Crawford… contrasted by the calm capitalist speculators, Patten and Cutten, and the daring geniuses, Howell, Livermore and others.
Here is vivid history and biography with the sweep of fiction – dramatic tales from la Salle Street, the western powerhouse of finance, the street of adventure.”
Edward Jerome Dies went on to write further investment related books including Behind the Wall Street Curtain and The Plunger, a Tale of the Wheat Pit.
If you’re looking to buy a copy of Street of Adventure, it won’t come cheap.
I noticed Global Investor is selling a rare first edition (poor condition) for UK£475 (US$950).
The only other copy I found available on the net (and from which I’ve borrowed the picture of the book’s cover shown above) – Rare List – was in much better condition and was selling for US$7,500 (negotiable).