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Drake's Fortune : The Fabulous True Story of the World's Greatest Confidence Artist
by Rayner, Richard
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Fine/Fine
- ISBN 10
- 0385499493
- ISBN 13
- 9780385499491
- Seller
-
Garrison, North Dakota, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Doubleday, 2002. Book. Fine. Hardcover. First Edition (stated).. FIRST PRINTING of the First Edition (stated). The fascinating biography of the famous American swindler Oscar Hartzell, who made millions in the 1920s and 1930s in various confidence games but especially from his misuse of the purported lost fortune of Sir Francis Drake, detailing how his swindles worked, his evasion of lawmen, his restyling of himself as an English aristocrat, his fortunes after the 1929 stock market crash, his evolvement into a 'messiah' status, much more. Hardcover with dust jacket, sources, indexed, 224pp. A very nice copy, the jacket neatly encased in an acid-free archival protector. Rare. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
Synopsis
Over the course of twenty years, from 1914 to 1933, Oscar Hartzell conned millions of dollars from tens of thousands of trusting, innocent people. And when he was caught, they gave him more.There are no folk heroes more all-American than con artists. Though we may openly condemn them, deep down we admire their brazen bravado, their cleverness, their shrewd understanding of how to rouse ambition and greed in their hapless victims. They offer the American dream on the quick, and, after all, don't suckers get what they deserve?Oscar Hartzell was born in 1876, on the Illinois prairie. Rising from humble origins, he worked hard as a farmer and then as a rancher on the grand scale in Iowa and Texas. But his flair for business didn't match his ambition, and his dream of success foundered. A bankrupt, he was in his late thirties when in 1915 he met a couple who promised to turn his mother's six thousand dollars into six million by delivering to her a share of the long-lost fortune of Sir Francis Drake. Hartzell joined their operation, apparently believing in it, before realizing it was a fraud and then boldly stealing it from under their noses and turning it into an enterprise that netted him millions. Hartzell moved to London, out of the reach of frustrated American lawmen, restyling himself as an English aristocrat. While living a life of hedonistic grandeur, he played the hayseed for the folks back home, selling as many as a hundred thousand Midwesterners on a get-rich-quick scheme that seemed every bit as reasonable as the wildly speculative investments being touted on Wall Street. The year 1929 came, the stock market crashed -- and then his life began to get very strange. His victims turned him into a messiah.The extraordinary story of Oscar Hartzell has been all but forgotten and never told in full until now. Richard Rayner employs a wealth of original research and previously unseen documents to re-create a saga that stands out both for the sheer longevity and outrageousness of Hartzell's con and for what its amazing twists and turns tell us about the tens of thousands of solid American citizens who, crushed by the Depression, believed to death in the most outrageous of frauds.From the Hardcover edition.
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Details
- Bookseller
- JB Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 00012896
- Title
- Drake's Fortune : The Fabulous True Story of the World's Greatest Confidence Artist
- Author
- Rayner, Richard
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Fine
- Edition
- First Edition (stated).
- ISBN 10
- 0385499493
- ISBN 13
- 9780385499491
- Publisher
- Doubleday
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 2002
- Keywords
- BIOGRAPHY, CRIME, CRIMINAL SCIENCE, CRIMINOLOGY, CRIMINALS, CONFIDENCE ARTISTS TRICKSTERS, CON GAMES, SWINDLING, SWINDLERS
- Bookseller catalogs
- General; Us History;
Terms of Sale
JB Books
Payment for orders: tax is not payable unless the purchaser resides in the state of North Dakota, in which case 7% Sales Tax applies (as per requirements of law here). Reserves: we can place 1 week reserves on ordered books pending receipt of payment. For longer periods, please inquire. Returns policy: all books are subject to prior sale; ordered books may be returned within one week if by some listing error condition is found to be not as advertised. Shipping/handling may be more for unusually large and heavy volumes; allow up to 1-3 weeks for delivery. Multiple-volume sets s/h charges are adjustable. Shipping of orders is very prompt, orders are shipped usually the same day that payment is received or next business day.
About the Seller
JB Books
Biblio member since 2003
Garrison, North Dakota
About JB Books
We carry books that are used, out-of-print, hard-to-find, rare, and sometimes new editions, on all subjects. Our descriptions of books and their dust jackets are generally conservative; browsers are advised to check descriptions carefully. Many titles are one copy only and sales / reservations are on a first come / first served basis. All orders and enquiries are at present preferred by email; we check frequently each day for messages.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
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