Book Review and Summary: How to Get Rich
How to Get Rich, originally published as a small magazine in August 1894, is not a motivational treatise but a practical, actionable blueprint for achieving financial independence through small-scale manufacturing. This collection of industrial and domestic formulas, many of which were claimed to have previously commanded high prices, provides readers with the secret knowledge necessary to become their own producers, wholesalers, and retailers. The book emphasizes the colossal profits available in common household staples—from inks and soaps to cleaning powders and specialized alloys—and promotes the entrepreneurial spirit required to turn simple chemistry into substantial wealth.
Pre-Summary Sections
Who May Benefit from the Book
- Aspiring Manufacturers
- Home-based Entrepreneurs
- DIY Hobbyists and Formulators
- Readers Seeking Antique Formulas
- Those interested in High-Margin Retail
Top 3 Key Insights
- Manufacture Leads to Fortune: Wealth is attained by producing high-demand household goods from low-cost materials, leveraging formulas that yield large profits.
- Undersell and Win: By acting as one’s own manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer, one can undercut competitors while still achieving handsome margins.
- Secret Knowledge is Capital: Many recipes provided were previously sold for five dollars each and served as the “foundations of many good-sized fortunes”.
4 More Lessons and Takeaways
- A single valuable formula, such as the Violet Ink recipe, could be “worth an enterprising man or woman $1,000” in profit potential.
- Industrial secrets, like reducing paint costs by half using a sulphate of zinc compound, can save businesses $100 or more.
- The sales strategy is flexible, allowing entrepreneurs to “canvass from house to house” or sell directly from a physical store.
- Attractiveness in packaging is crucial, ensuring products like Baking Powder sell readily at standard prices.
The Book in 1 Sentence This compact guide reveals valuable, high-profit antique recipes for common goods, empowering the enterprising reader to become an independent manufacturer and achieve riches.
The Book Summary in 1 Minute How to Get Rich delivers the “money-making secrets” that underpin large fortunes, presenting exact formulas for articles used daily in every household. The core strategy is to manufacture these items, such as washing powder (costing 7 cents, retailing for 25 cents) or specialized inks, to exploit the huge profit margins previously reserved for established dealers. Readers are urged to use “push and sagacity” to market their goods, becoming self-sufficient producers capable of underselling competitors and starting on the path toward a large income.
The 1 Completely Unique Aspect The manual contains a secret for making “maple sugar without maple trees” by utilizing the sap of the butternut or birch tree combined with a small amount of common cane sugar.
Chapter-wise Book Summary
Chapter 1: The Entrepreneurial Formula: Foundations of Fortune
“Here is an opportunity to be your own manufacturer, your own wholesaler and your own retailer.”
This opening section serves as the mandate for the reader, framing the subsequent recipes as “Valuable Money-Making Secrets”. The publisher, A. B. Courtney, assures the reader that these formulas, which have previously been sold for high prices, were the groundwork for “many good-sized fortunes”. The profit potential is highlighted through dramatic examples: articles that cost only two or three cents to manufacture often retail for twenty-five cents. The book emphasizes independence, detailing that readers should use their discretion when preparing and marketing the goods. Necessary raw materials, such as various ingredients required to compound the articles, can be obtained from wholesale drug and grocery stores in large cities. This chapter instills the belief that any person with sufficient “push and sagacity” can acquire a competency, or even a fortune, by adopting this model of self-sufficient manufacturing.
- Chapter Key Points:
- Formulas yield “very large profits”.
- Readers are advised to become independent producers and retailers.
- Success requires “push and sagacity”.
- 1 Important Quote: “Large fortunes have been made upon the manufacture of single articles, for which recipes are here given, and there is no reason why any one may not acquire a competency in the same way…”
Chapter 2: Chemical Gold: High-Value Inks and Writing Fluids
“This will make the most rich and beautiful ink of this color in existence; will not fade or corrode steel pens, and is not injured by freezing.”
Chapter 2 delves into specific formulas for highly marketable inks and specialized chemical compounds. The recipes range from the best and most durable Black Ink, recommended by leading penmen, which involves logwood, blue galls, and copper sulfate, to novel preparations that promise exceptional income. The book provides detailed instructions for colorful inks, including Silver, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Scarlet, and Brown inks. The extraordinary commercial value of the Violet Ink recipe is stressed, as it produces a superior, freeze-proof product often sold at $2 per pint. Furthermore, the chapter introduces the Traveller’s Ink, a brand-new concept using aniline-saturated blotting paper that becomes writing ink when mixed with water, which “any enterprising man can make a large income out of its manufacture”. The inclusion of Luminous Ink, which glows in the dark due to phosphorous and oil cinnamon, suggests specialization in niche markets.
- Chapter Key Points:
- Provides professional formulas for long-lasting black writing ink.
- Highlights the Violet Ink formula as potentially worth $1,000 to an entrepreneur.
- Offers unique niche inks like Traveller’s Ink and Luminous Ink.
- 1 Important Quote: “Records written with it fifty years ago are as legible as the day they were put upon the paper.”
Chapter 3: Domestic Economy: Lotions, Soaps, and Home Care
“There is nothing equal to this cream for softening and whitening the hands.”
This section is dedicated to household and personal care products, which are perpetually in demand. Formulas are provided for efficient, low-cost cleaning goods, such as Babbit’s Premium Soap (made using lye, tallow, sal soda, and rosin) and the high-profit Royal Washing Powder, which costs only 7 cents per pound package but retails for 25 cents. Beyond cleaning, the book offers numerous cosmetic and maintenance secrets, including New York Barber’s Star Hair Oil (a mix of castor oil, alcohol, and essential oils), a safe Freckle Lotion, and softening formulas like Almond Cream and Cream of Roses. The guide also covers crucial domestic remedies and cleaning tips, such as a family salve for burns and cuts, methods for cleaning marble, and instructions for removing ink and grease spots from fabrics and books.
- Chapter Key Points:
- Provides industrial-scale soap and washing powder recipes with high retail markup.
- Offers proprietary formulas for popular personal care items like Cold Cream and Cologne Water.
- Includes practical domestic tips, such as cleaning marble and removing stains from books.
- 1 Important Quote: “This is one of the most soothing and healing preparations for burns, scalds, cuts, and sores of every description.”
Chapter 4: Industrial Alchemy and Culinary Chemistry
“This receipt has been sold to painters as high as $100 for the privilege to use the same in their business.”
The final section reveals sophisticated, often industrial, trade secrets that offer massive economic advantages. One of the most significant formulas provides a method to Make Paint for One Cent a Pound by combining standard lead and oil paint with a compound solution of sulphate of zinc. This formula alone was worth a substantial fee to professional painters. The book also features chemical metallurgy secrets, providing recipes for Imitation Gold (using platina, copper, and zinc) and Imitation Silver. A new metallic alloy, Artificial Gold, widely used in France as a substitute for real gold, is detailed, noting its malleability, fine grain, and ability to take a splendid polish. For the culinary entrepreneur, the chapter reveals the recipe for standard Baking Powder and the secret to manufacturing “maple” sugar from butternut sap.
- Chapter Key Points:
- Details high-value industrial secret for drastically reducing paint cost.
- Provides exact compositions for Imitation Gold and Silver alloys.
- Includes commercially viable food formulas like Baking Powder and artificial maple sugar.
- 1 Important Quote: “If tin be employed instead of zinc, the alloy will be more brilliant. It is very much used in France, and must ultimately attain equal popularity here.”
Notable Quotes from the Book
- “These recipes have sold for five dollars each, and have been the foundations of many good-sized fortunes.”
- “Ink, like soap, is something everybody uses, and few people realize that thousands of barrels of it are made and sold.”
- “Any enterprising man can make a large income out of its manufacture [Traveller’s Ink].”
- “It is worth an enterprising man or woman $1,000 [Violet Ink].”
- “If he wants to make it very cheap, he can take cream of tartar and common washing (carbonate of) soda, instead of the articles named in the recipe…”
- “Pound packages cost 7 cents, retail for 25 cents [Royal Washing Powder].”
- “This is a new metallic alloy which is now very extensively used in France as a substitute for gold.”
- “Castile soap is best for use; it will cure a scratch, or cut, and prevents any spot.”
- “This pomade is excellent for strengthening the hair, promoting the growth of whiskers and moustaches, and preventing baldness.”
- “Spirits of turpentine is excellent for cleaning black marble.”
About the Author
The author of How to Get Rich is listed as Anonymous. Consequently, no personal details, biography, or list of other works outside of this specific publication can be provided from the available sources. However, the publication itself was part of the Multum in Parvo Library, a monthly magazine published in August 1894 as Volume I, No. 8. The publisher was A. B. Courtney, located at 671 Tremont Street, Boston. The subscription price for this small magazine was 50 cents per year, or 5 cents per single copy. The content focuses on disseminating previously exclusive trade secrets to the general public, suggesting the author possessed considerable practical knowledge of chemistry and domestic manufacturing.
How to Get the Most from the Books
Utilize the low-cost formulas to undersell competitors, focusing on attractive packaging. Purchase ingredients wholesale and market goods directly to consumers.
Conclusion
How to Get Rich is a remarkable historical document showcasing late 19th-century self-help literature centered on tangible manufacturing expertise. It serves as an economic primer, demonstrating how common household necessities—from durable black ink to therapeutic cold cream—were historically sources of immense, almost hidden, profit. The book’s ultimate lesson is that mastery of a few specialized, reproducible formulas, combined with sharp commercial “push and sagacity”, provides the surest route to financial prosperity and entrepreneurial independence.