Peter F. Collier (1849–1909) and Robert J. Collier (1876–1918) were the men behind publishing giant Peter F. Collier & Son, and their organization ranked among America's most prestigious firms. Collier's Weekly, which appeared in various forms from 1888 through 1957, was at the forefront of new publishing technologies, such as the use of halftone images, and was noted for its fiction and investigative journalism. Collier's publications regularly employed the best illustrators of the day, and the company frequently produced collections of favorite works from their popular periodicals. This volume presents the best color and black-and-white images from two rare portfolios, originally printed in 1908 and 1914. Featured artists include Charles Dana Gibson, whose contract with Collier's made his "Gibson Girl" a fixture in American culture, and Maxfield Parrish, who created many illustrations and covers for the magazine. Additional contributors include Howard Pyle, Jessie Willcox Smith, J. C. Leyendecker, Frederic Remington, and other noteworthy American artists of the early twentieth century.

Robert Collier was decades ahead of his time in writing down ways for man to improve his lot in life. He wrote "Secret of the Ages" during an active and successful life developed upon basic ideas which opened up new vistas of living for countless multitudes of people. Brought up to be a priest, he worked as a mining engineer, an advertising executive and a prolific writer and publisher. The Robert Collier Letter Book earned Robert Collier the distinction of being one of the greatest marketing minds in history. Robert Collier sales letters were successful because he wrote to his readers' needs. As an expert in marketing, his sales savvy and writing expertise placed hundreds of millions of dollars in his clients' pockets.