Their
career is an instructive one, giving an emphatic denial to the assertion
we hear so often repeated, that an "over-honest" man can not make money
in New York. Shut your ears to the calumny, young man, just staring out
in life. "Honesty _is_ the best policy;" and it is only by scrupulous
honesty that enduring success can be obtained. Trickery and sharp
practice may earn wealth rapidly, but depend upon it they have their
reward; for it is a curious fact in the history of man that wealth
acquired by knavery rarely stays with its possessors for more than a
generation, if so long.
In starting out, the young Harpers printed books to order, attempting
nothing at their own risk. They did a part of the composition and
press-work with their own hands, and were, perhaps, the hardest workers
in their establishment. Their first job was two thousand copies of
Seneca's Morals, and was intrusted to them by Evert Duyckinck, a famous
publisher of that day. The books were delivered in August, 1817, and
gave entire satisfaction.
Immediately after this, they undertook to stereotype an edition of the
"Book of Common Prayer" for the Protestant Episcopal Church of New York,
supposing that they would be able to make a fair profit at the rate at
which they had agreed to do the work.
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