Rare is the opportunity to see, much less own, an original. But this unusual, carefully crafted reproduction of Benjamin Graham and David Dodd's immortal Security Analysis gives you that chance--to read and treasure a true classic--the book that gave birth to value investing.
Continuously in print through five editions, for more than 60 years, and through nearly a million copies, the primer for many of America's most illustrious investors--and the wellspring of Graham and Dodd's Wall Street Immortality--Security Analysis is indisputably the most influential book on investing ever written. Still the investors' bible, it's as frequently consulted today as it was when it first appeared in 1934.
Of course, over the years and over five editions, Security Analysis changed. Its language was modernized. New material was added. Metaphors and examples were brought up to date. In the light of changing times, these alterations were necessary and appropriate.
But what of the original book? The very durability of this work arouses our curiosity. And what we discover when we return to the original is very simply a classic, a work whose uncompromising worth has not paled since it first saw the light of day in 1934.
The original words of Benjamin Graham and David Dodd--put to paper not long after the disastrous Stock Market Crash of 1929--still have the mesmerizing qualities of rigorous honesty and diligent scrutiny, the same riveting power of disciplined thought and determined logic that gave the work its first distinction and began its illustrious career.
The words you will read here are eloquent. Not only a financial genius and a man of high repute for honorable dealings, Graham was a man of letters invited to teach in the literature department at Columbia University (as well as in the economics and philosophy departments).
But this reproduction is far more than a historical curiosity, an interesting object, and a delightful read. It presents the original Graham/Dodd method of investing--told in their own words as they first described it in the 1930s.
What exactly is this method that has drawn such longterm devotion in the notably fickle reaches of Wall Street?
Graham and Dodd were Wall Street's first bargain shoppers. In this book they first explain their methods for locating bonds and stocks "which are selling well below the levels apparently justified by a careful analysis of the relevant facts." In this book, they tell you precisely how to find these undervalued securities and analyze those "relevant facts."
Are these methods still practical and usable today? The great fortunes created by value investors Warren Buffett, Mario Gabelli, John Neff, Michael Price, and John Bogle testify that they certainly are.
In their preface to this book, Graham and Dodd write that they hope their work "will stand the test of the ever enigmatic future." There is no doubt that it has.
This distinctively wrought book is a careful reproduction of the 1934 edition, containing every word of the original.
Read and reap? J.P. Morgan Co.'s private-banking unit, New York, compiles "Summer Must-Reads for Millionaires." The 10-book list includes the 1934 edition of "Security Analysis." The Wall Street Journal 20000726
