THE FINANCIER: A NOVEL

New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1912. First Edition; 1st state. Hardcover. 779 pages; Width: 5.25" Height: 7.75". First volume of the "Trilogy of Desire," which includes "The Titan" (1914) and "The Stoic" (1947). Scarce first state of this the author's third novel. Copyright page states "published October, 1912," with code letters K-M. Bound in blue motted cloth with stamped gilt lettering to spine and front cover Decorative design appears on front cover. Book shows light shelfwear, with minor discoloration to spine. Binding is firm. Pages are clean and without markings. AUTHOR; Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of choice and agency. Dreiser's best known novels include "Sister Carrie" (1900) and "An American Tragedy" (1925). (Summary courtesy of Wikipedia) CONTENTS: Frank Cowperwood, whose father is a banker, makes his first money by buying cheap soaps on the market and selling them back with profit to a grocer. Later, he gets a job in Henry Waterman & Company, and leaves it for Tighe & Company. He also marries an affluent widow, in spite of his young age. Over the years, he starts misusing municipal funds with the aid of the City Treasurer. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire redounds to a stock market crash, prompting him to be bankrupt and exposed. Although he attempts to browbeat his way out of being sentenced to jail by intimidating Mr Stener, politicians from the Republican Party use their influence to use him as a scapegoat for their own corrupt practices. Meanwhile, he has an affair with Aileen Butler, a young girl, subsequent to losing faith in his wife. She vows to wait for him after his jail sentence. Her father, Mr Butler dies; she grows apart from her family. Frank divorces his wife. Sometime after being released, he invests in stocks subsequent to the Panic of 1873, and becomes a millionaire again. He decides to move out of Philadelphia and start a new life in the West. [courtesy wikipedia]. .