editions of security analysis

edtost · #1 03-07-2006, 10:09 PM

one of those graham and dodd books you guys seem to rave about. anyway, i was browsing the stacks in my school's library and found two different editions - one from 1934 and one from sometime in the 60's. from looking on amazon, it seems that the current reprints are the editions from 34 and 40.

which of these should i read? does it really matter? will i need to be really careful with the pages of the really old one?

edit: the later edition we have is from 62. there is apparently also one from 51, but i didnt see that one.

erby · #2 03-07-2006, 10:28 PM

ed,

the main catalog says that there's a 5th edition published in 1988, but it's missing/discharged. No idea what the hell that means tho...

ERB

DesertCat · #3 03-08-2006, 12:12 AM

I do know that when Buffett held meetings of his value colleagues, he told them not to bring any version of SA newer than 1934! I can't tell you why.

I've been reading the 1951 version and thought it was pretty good. The 62 should be good as well. They are all dry reading, they are basically textbooks after all. I think Ben Graham died in 73 so I expect he still had some influence on all these versions before then. The versions from the 80s are updated by totally new guys so I don't know how good they are. I preferred the 51 version.

edtost · #4 03-08-2006, 12:48 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I do know that when Buffett held meetings of his value colleagues, he told them not to bring any version of SA newer than 1934! I can't tell you why.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good enough for me. Plus, old books feel and look so much cooler than new ones (not that a library book from 1962 is all that new).

DesertCat · #5 03-09-2006, 01:03 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I do know that when Buffett held meetings of his value colleagues, he told them not to bring any version of SA newer than 1934! I can't tell you why.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good enough for me. Plus, old books feel and look so much cooler than new ones (not that a library book from 1962 is all that new).

[/ QUOTE ]

One other thing I forget to point out is that the older versions, esp. 1934, have discussions of shareholder rights that are out of date (since many important securities laws have been passed in the interim). It's only a minor point of what Ben is writing about, and in the 1951 version I actually found his shareholder rights/obligations discussion very interesting.