Jean Paul Getty

Mr. Getty expounds the highly personal view of business that has guided him through his spectacular career. He reveals the principles and methods which have enabled him to build up and wisely use his tremendous fortune.

How to be Rich

In 1965, shortly after founding his namesake museum in Malibu, California, J. Paul Getty (1892–1976) penned a reminiscence about “the romance and zest—the excitement, suspense, thrills, and triumphs—that make art collecting one of the most exhilarating and satisfying of all human endeavors.” Newly republished, this book offers a fascinating portrait of an idiosyncratic and highly personal passion for art. In the late 1920s, Getty writes, “It appeared to me that the days of collecting were just about over. The men who had made their millions . . . before I'd started in business . . . had swept up just about everything worthwhile.” The onset of the Great Depression changed the landscape dramatically; Getty recounts how his serious acquisitions began in the early 1930s and continued for more than three decades. The text, adorned with revealing anecdotes, covers paintings, antiquities, and decorative arts and furniture, with conversational asides discussing Getty's philosophy of collecting. This personal chronicle reads like an intriguing postcard from a vastly different—and increasingly distant—era.

The Joys of Collecting

In his candid and witty autobiography, famed tycoon J. Paul Getty invites readers to glimpse the twentieth century from the vantage point of a man who lived, as he puts it, "through the most exciting and exhilarating - and most turbulent and terrible - eight decades of human history." Whether describing how he amassed his staggering fortune, recounting conversations with intriguing personalities of the day, or frankly discussing his marriages and liaisons, J. Paul Getty sets the record straight - once and for all. He even speaks honestly about his notorious stinginess and the bizarre problems faced by the impossibly wealthy.

Jean Paul Getty

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