One-of-a-kind red leatherbound travel diary kept by J. Paul Getty at age 11–12 in 1904–1905, 4.25 x 6.25, consisting of 57 full pages of diary entries entirely in his hand and nine pages recording his personal statistics such as height and weight, and measurements of his biceps, waist, thighs, chest, and neck. Getty’s journal entries are split into two sections: the first covers October 3–October 28, 1904, detailing his trip to the St. Louis World’s Fair, Oklahoma, and Minnesota; the second section is dated February 18–April 15, 1905, and records a trip to California. Offering extraordinary insight into his early life and development, these entries reveal several of the traits and characteristics associated with Getty, even at this young age.
The first page reads, “Paul Getty, October 1904. Age Eleven.” On October 4, 1904, he writes: “We started for the World’s Fair about ten o’clock in the morning or rather got there at that time. The first things that met our gaze was the Intramural rail-road seven miles for ten cents…We went in to the Varied Industries building one of the largest of the buildings. There was a little bit of everything in this building machines, jewelry, postal cards and souvenirs also shoes and cloth. While we were in there mama had a new pair of glasses and I bought a Eagle fountain pen, pen holder, and a box of pen points.”
Getty’s interest in antiques is hinted at a few days later, when he writes: “In the morning we saw the Palace of Manufactures. I think it is one of the largest buildings on the grounds, if not the largest. The building contained all kinds of manufactures such as embroideries, silks, jewelry, cloth and dresses. There was one dress there that had been given to one of the ladies in court by Napoleon Bonaparte. It was valued at 12,000 dollars.” These last lines are especially interesting because Getty—as an 11-year-old-boy—shows interest in both the historical significance and the value of the dress. Later in life, Getty would assemble one of the world’s finest collections of 17th– and 18th–century French textiles and tapestries.
On October 8th, Getty describes seeing the famous performing horse Beautiful Jim Key, one of the Fair’s greatest attractions, in part: “He is the most wonderful horse I have ever seen he spelled Minneapolis, New York and many other citys. He changed money and did arithmetic examples up to 30.”
After leaving the World’s Fair, the Getty family travels south to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, the location of George Getty’s oil wells. On October 17th, the young J. Paul Getty and his dog Jip tag along with his father to visit the wells: “Fine day, in the morning we got up at six o’clock took breakfast and all started for the lease including Jip. We got there at ten o’clock and walked around to see the four oil wells all good No. 3 the poorest of the lot was shot last night at 10.15 with 100 qts. of nitro-glycerin we saw the column of oil from the drilling shoot 100 ft. in the air and keep it up 5 min.” Getty, of course, would go on to make his fortune in oil, and was a millionaire by 1916.
The family then sets out again, traveling toward Minneapolis with stops along the way. On October 23rd, Getty writes: “In the afternoon I and Tom the boy I mentioned before sold bottles belonging to the hotel we each earned a dollar one hundred cents of good American money.” Getty’s miserly tendencies may be found in his precise attention to the costs and prices of things; when the family arrives in California, he notes, “I bought some oranges. 4 for 10 cents.”
In Chicago on October 26th, he writes: “Papa left us to attend to some business while mama and I went to Marshal, Field and Co. one of the largest stores in the world. We first went to the leather department where mama bought a shopping bag. I then went to the toy department where I saw a great assortment of the best and most costly toys. There was one toy railroad which was 30 ft. long…After I had seen the toy department I went to the book department where I got two books, Bound to Rise, and Risen from the Ranks, by Alger.” Although Getty’s biography does not quite follow the same ‘rags to riches’ narrative of Horatio Alger’s stories, the reading material he chooses here is especially noteworthy. He frequently mentions reading throughout this journal, and later writes that he has “finished Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, whose works I like to read.” In very good to fine condition, with wear to the covers and spine; interior pages are generally clean, with toning to the edges of the first page (held in place by old tape), a tear to one inner page, and a couple of other pages detached but present. A marvelous piece from the formative years of a titan of American industry. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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