The Richest Man in Babylon : A Classic of Personal Financial Advice (English Edition)

This new edition is published in large font of 16 points for comfortable reading with special illustrations.

The book The Richest Man in Babylon remains in print almost a century since the first edition was published in 1926 and is regarded as a classic of personal financial advice. It dispenses financial advice through a collection of parables set 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon.

The parables are told by a fictional Babylonian character called Arkad, a poor scribe who became the “richest man in Babylon”. Included in Arkad‘s advice are the “Seven Cures” (or how to generate money and wealth), and the “Five Laws of Gold” (or how to protect and invest wealth). A core part of Arkad’s advice is around “paying yourself first”, “living within your means”, “investing in what you know”, the importance of “long-term saving”, and “home ownership”.

The content of the book is from a series of pamphlets distributed by U.S. banks and insurance companies in 1920-1924; the pamphlets were bound together and published as a book in 1926. The book is often referred to as a classic of personal financial advice and appears in modern recommended reading lists on personal financial advice and wealth management, which has kept the book in print almost 90 years after its first edition with over 2 million copies sold. The unusual structure of the book has inspired many modern derivative works providing further discussion and insights on the parables.

This book groups the parables into general themes of advice, and particularly “The Seven Cures” and the “Five Laws of Gold”.

About the Author

GEORGE SAMUEL CLASON (November 7, 1874 – April 7, 1957) was born in Louisiana, Missouri. He attended the University of Nebraska and served in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War.
Beginning a long career in publishing, Clason founded the Clason Map Company of Denver, Colorado, and published the first road atlas of the United States and Canada. But his company did not survive the Great Depression. In 1926, he issued the first of a famous series of pamphlets on thrift and financial success, using parables set in ancient Babylon to make each of his points. These were distributed in large quantities by banks and insurance companies and became familiar to millions, the most famous being “The Richest Man in Babylon,” the parable from which the present volume takes its title. These “Babylonian parables” have become a modern inspirational classic. Clarson is credited with coining the phrase, “Pay yourself first”.