16 h 17 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 16 h 17 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What can a penniless cattle driver, a grocery clerk, and a boy stranded at a ferry teach you about opportunity?
In Hidden Treasures, Harry A. Lewis explores success through lives shaped by work, thrift, and initiative. Daniel Drew returns from New York without money, but with an idea: cattle fetch higher prices in the city. Unable to buy his own herd, he arranges to take farmers’ animals to market for a commission. A setback becomes a place to begin.
Russell Sage saves his grocery wages until he can buy into a store. Young Cornelius Vanderbilt faces a different problem: he must move horses across a ferry, but has no fare. He asks a stranger for a loan and offers a horse as security. Lewis uses concrete choices like these to explore determination, resourcefulness, and the habits behind achievement.
What you’ll discover
- Opportunity close at hand See how Drew turns a difference in cattle prices into a practical business opening.
- Small savings with purpose Follow Sage from grocery work toward ownership through his resolve to spend less than he earns.
- Resourcefulness under pressure Meet a young Vanderbilt who offers security when an unexpected expense blocks his way.
- Character behind ambition Consider how Lewis connects business achievement with careful judgment, persistence, and keeping promises.
- A fresh personal inventory Reflect on the habits, attitudes, and unused talents that may already lie within your reach.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you like biography in short portraits, old-fashioned self-help, and stories of people who built careers from nothing. It offers practical rules about money, work, time and character.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Resourcefulness turns a setback into action
- Preparation matters more than luck
- Learn the work from the bottom
- Thrift protects money and judgment
- Give your strength one direction
- Meet setbacks with self reliance
- Spare moments become lasting knowledge
- Trust and generosity give wealth purpose
- Success grows from connected habits
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 13 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Hidden Treasures in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Hidden Treasures
by Harry A. Lewis · 1887
A boy with no money leaves a horse as security for a ferry fare, and Vanderbilt's rise begins.
Challenging5–10 hours to read2 languages
Learn a language with challenging classicsSpanishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseEnglishHow we measure levels
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then USD 0.14 a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
In short
A twelve-year-old boy stands at a ferry landing with a string of horses and no money for the fare. His father forgot to give him the cash.
Hidden Treasures at a glance
- Reading time
- About 9 h 15 min7 h 20 min fast, 11 h slow
- Length
- 132,000 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1887by Harry A. Lewis
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Success comes from character, not luck
The book starts from a plain claim. Some people succeed and others fail, and Lewis notes that seven tenths of the most successful men began life poor. A careful look at their lives, he argues, shows habits at work, not good fortune. Luck is the word people use to excuse themselves.
Alexander T. Stewart is his test case. He arrives from Belfast at sixteen, friendless and almost penniless. He later owns a marble store that twenty-five thousand people enter each day. A small inheritance helps him. Lewis insists that he was ready to use it wisely because he had already worked and saved.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1887
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Lewis, Harry A. Hidden Treasures. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/hidden-treasures.
Lewis, H. A. (2026). Hidden treasures. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/hidden-treasures (Original work published 1887)
Lewis, Harry A. Hidden Treasures. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/hidden-treasures.
@book{lewis2026hidden,
author = {Lewis, Harry A.},
title = {Hidden Treasures},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/hidden-treasures},
note = {First published 1887}
}
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Hidden Treasures
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Hidden Treasures by Harry A. Lewis about?
It is a collection of short biographies of financiers, editors, statesmen, generals, inventors and preachers. Lewis uses them to show why some people succeed while others fail, and he adds chapters of advice on thrift, focus, self-reliance and spare time.
Is Hidden Treasures a true story?
Yes, in the sense that it is nonfiction. It retells the real lives of people such as Vanderbilt, Stewart, Cyrus Field, Garfield and Edison, drawing on newspapers and earlier biographers. It was written in the late 1800s for young readers.
What is the main message of Hidden Treasures?
Lewis claims that success comes from habits and effort, not luck. Thrift, hard work, focus on one aim, honest dealing, self-reliance and good use of time, he argues, carried poor boys to the top of their fields.
The author
Harry A. Lewis
Writer
Harry A. Lewis is the name on this collection of life stories, published in the late nineteenth century. The book shows an author steeped in the American self-help tradition, fond of biography, proverbs and moral lessons for the young. It draws on newspapers, speeches and earlier biographers for its portraits. Little else about his life is given here, so the book itself is the best guide.
More like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
