This is a new release of the original 1928 edition.

1928. This book tells the tale of Cornelius Vanderbilt, better known as Commodore Vanderbilt, an American prominent in the transportation and finance arenas. Vanderbilt founded freight and ferry businesses, was a ferry boat captain, established his own shipping service on the Hudson River, established and financed a line to California via Nicaragua, owned a controlling interest in the New York and Harlem railroad, the Hudson River railroad and the New York Central railroad, as well as being embroiled in a bitter stock market dispute with James Fisk and Daniel Drew for control of the Erie Railroad. He was an intriguing man, with the ability to get what he wanted and succeed.

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1928. This book tells the tale of Cornelius Vanderbilt, better known as Commodore Vanderbilt, an American prominent in the transportation and finance arenas. Vanderbilt founded freight and ferry businesses, was a ferry boat captain, established his own shipping service on the Hudson River, established and financed a line to California via Nicaragua, owned a controlling interest in the New York and Harlem railroad, the Hudson River railroad and the New York Central railroad, as well as being embroiled in a bitter stock market dispute with James Fisk and Daniel Drew for control of the Erie Railroad. He was an intriguing man, with the ability to get what he wanted and succeed.

Corneel flung up that lion head of his, a mingling of amusement and resentment mirrored in his frosty eyes. "Steamship, gal," he corrected. "Steamboats don't go to sea. The Prometheus is the sightliest craft in these waters. I didn't see her beat in England, either. And I'll tell ye something else. She's the fust ocean steamer ever built with one man's money." A flame of high egotism ennobled his conqueror's face. "She's Cornelius Van Derbilt's, as she puts to sea. No other man owns ary dollar of her. She's mine, b'God, mine!" -from Chapter IV His name has not endured like those of his contemporaries, but Arthur D. Howden Smith was, in the early years of the 20th century, a tremendously popular author of pulp fiction on a par with E.E. "Doc" Smith and Edgar Rice Burroughs. And the same boisterous enthusiasm that made his adventure tales of pirates and Vikings so rip-roaring readable bursts forth from his nonfiction as well. Here, in this 1927 work, Howden Smith tells the story of the life of American railroad and shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, from his family's roots in Holland to the last weeks before his death, when he clung to life with the pitbull tenacity that has taken him from a humble Staten Island childhood to wealth, fame, and power. Fun and feisty, this is a terrific work of classic biography. Also available from Cosimo Classics: Howden Smith's John Jacob Astor: Landlord of New York. ARTHUR DOUGLAS HOWDEN SMITH (1887-1945) was an enormously prolific and diverse writer, penning numerous short stories, biographies, and business studies, but he is best remembered for his many pulp novels, including Porto Bello Gold (a prequel to Treasure Island), The Dead Go Overside, The Doom Trail, Swain's Saga, and others.

Some weeks later a dray drove up to the Astor store, then at 68 Pine Street, and delivered a number of very heavy little kegs which chinked faintly as they were rolled in through the door. "What on earth are those, Jacob?" Sarah demanded when she happened in during the afternoon. "Der fruits of our East India pass," he answered, his deep-set eyes twinkling merrily. "Money?" He nodded. "Ho-how much?" "Fifty-five t'ousan' dollar." "Jacob!" she gasped. And well she might. It was as rich a coup as he ever achieved. -from "Fur and Tea" New Yorkers can't escape the name Astor: it graces theaters, hotels, street names, and even an entire Queens neighborhood. This delightful biography of the "landlord of New York" explains how John Jacob Astor, who arrived in the city a poor immigrant in 1784, created such a fortune-in real estate, fur, and trade with China-not only for himself but for the city and nation around him that his influence could not be denied. Author Arthur D. Howden Smith was, in the early years of the 20th century, a tremendously popular author of pulp fiction on a par with E.E. "Doc" Smith and Edgar Rice Burroughs. And the same boisterous enthusiasm that made his adventure tales of pirates and Vikings so riproaring readable bursts forth from this classic biography as well. Also available from Cosimo Classics: Howden Smith's Commodore Vanderbilt: An Epic of American Achievement. ARTHUR DOUGLAS HOWDEN SMITH (1887-1945) was an enormously prolific and diverse writer, penning numerous short stories, biographies, and business studies, but he is best remembered for his many pulp novels, including Porto Bello Gold (a prequel to Treasure Island), The Dead Go Overside, The Doom Trail, Swain's Saga, and others.

Corneel flung up that lion head of his, a mingling of amusement and resentment mirrored in his frosty eyes. "Steamship, gal," he corrected. "Steamboats don't go to sea. The Prometheus is the sightliest craft in these waters. I didn't see her beat in England, either. And I'll tell ye something else. She's the fust ocean steamer ever built with one man's money." A flame of high egotism ennobled his conqueror's face. "She's Cornelius Van Derbilt's, as she puts to sea. No other man owns ary dollar of her. She's mine, b'God, mine!" -from Chapter IV His name has not endured like those of his contemporaries, but Arthur D. Howden Smith was, in the early years of the 20th century, a tremendously popular author of pulp fiction on a par with E.E. "Doc" Smith and Edgar Rice Burroughs. And the same boisterous enthusiasm that made his adventure tales of pirates and Vikings so rip-roaring readable bursts forth from his nonfiction as well. Here, in this 1927 work, Howden Smith tells the story of the life of American railroad and shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, from his family's roots in Holland to the last weeks before his death, when he clung to life with the pitbull tenacity that has taken him from a humble Staten Island childhood to wealth, fame, and power. Fun and feisty, this is a terrific work of classic biography. Also available from Cosimo Classics: Howden Smith's John Jacob Astor: Landlord of New York. ARTHUR DOUGLAS HOWDEN SMITH (1887-1945) was an enormously prolific and diverse writer, penning numerous short stories, biographies, and business studies, but he is best remembered for his many pulp novels, including Porto Bello Gold (a prequel to Treasure Island), The Dead Go Overside, The Doom Trail, Swain's Saga, and others.

This book tells the tale of Cornelius Vanderbilt, better known as Commodore Vanderbilt, an American prominent in the transportation and finance arenas. Vanderbilt founded freight and ferry businesses, was a ferry boat captain, established his own shipping service on the Hudson River, established and financed a line to California via Nicaragua, owned a controlling interest in the New York and Harlem railroad, the Hudson River railroad and the New York Central railroad, as well as being embroiled in a bitter stock market dispute with James Fisk and Daniel Drew for control of the Erie Railroad. He was an intriguing man, with the ability to get what he wanted and succeed.