[Ads-l] Blurb and blurbing

Ben Zimmer bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM
Wed May 15 22:03:46 UTC 2019


The 1906 first edition that Fred mentioned in 2016, from the UK bookseller
Peter Harrington, is evidently still available for the low, low price of
£650.00
($863.01):

https://www.biblio.com/book/you-bromide-sulphitic-theory-burgess-gelett/d/1138880121

The page has scans of the slipcover, and the text appears to be the same as
the later edition on the LOC site.

On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 4:32 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Way back in 2010 I presented a May 1907 citation for "blurb". This
> improved upon the 1914 citation for "blurb" in the OED. The title of
> the 1907 article stated "Gelett Burgess Coins Odd Term for the
> Booksellers" which signaled that "blurb" was a new word.
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-August/101653.html
>
> [ref] 1907 May 16, New York Times, It's a "Blurb" Now to Puff New
> Book: Gelett Burgess Coins Odd Term for the Booksellers' Annual
> Dinner, Page 7, New York, New York. (ProQuest) [/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> In his speech he went further and defined a "blurb" as a "sound like a
> publisher." and declared it was invented by the publisher who wrote
> across a copy of the magazine named after him. "I consider this number
> the best ever written."
> [End excerpt]
>
> In October 2016 Fred Shapiro posted about the 1906 book "Are You a
> Bromide?".
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2016-October/144536.html
>
> Fred found the Library of Congress page scans, but he also remarked
> that the scans included later dates such as 1913. So the scans were
> not created from the 1906 edition. reflected a later edition.
>
> Fred contacted a rare book dealer who had the 1906 edition, and Fred
> obtained the following text:
>
> [Begin excerpt from Fred's Oct 4, 2016 mailing list post]
> 1906 Gelett Burgess _Are You a Bromide?_ (dust jacket)  YES, this is a
> "BLURB"!  All the Other Publishers commit them.  Why Shouldn't We? ...
> MISS BELINDA BLURB IN THE ACT OF BLURBING ... This book has 42-carat
> THRILLS in it.  It fairly BURBLES.  Ask the man at the counter what HE
> thinks of it!  He's seem Janice Meredith faded to a mauve magenta.
> He's seen BLURBS before, and he's dead wise.
> [End excerpt – "seem" might be a typo for "seen"]
>
> When one reads this text which contains phrases such as "He's seen
> BLURBS before" it is natural to assume that the word "blurb" (and its
> modern definition) were already established.
>
> However, I believe that Gelett Burgess was actually stating that
> "blurbs" existed, and book sellers could recognize "blurbs", but they
> did not have a name. Burgess was now providing a name.
>
> Garson
>
> On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 2:32 PM dave at wilton.net <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > These images are from a 1940 edition of the book.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: "Andy Bach" <afbach at GMAIL.COM>
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 2:14pm
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: [ADS-L] Blurb and blurbing
> >
> >
> >
> > My Lit Hub Daily newsletter started with:
> > TODAY: In 1906, at the 1907 American Booksellers Association banquet,
> > Gelett Burgess hands out copies of his new book Are You A Bromide? The
> > book jacket features a photo of a woman—Miss Belinda Blurb—and a new
> > role: blurbing, thus coining the promotional text on a book-jacket.
> >
> > I was intrigued by what that book could be about and so:
> > https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.24203600/?st=gallery
> >
> > But notice that the cover says, surrounding a picture of Miss Blurb,
> > hand cupped to her mouth and shouting, "YES, this is a “BLURB”! All
> > the Other Publishers commit them. Why Shouldn't We? MISS BELINDA BLURB
> > IN THE ACT OF BLURBING ARE YOU A BROMIDE? ... Ask the man at the
> > counter what HE thinks of it! HE's seen Janice Meredith faded to a
> > mauve magenta. He's seen BLURBS before, and he's dead wise. He'll say:
> > This Book is the Proud Purple Penultimate!!"
> >
> > It would seem that rather than coining the term, he's just being "up
> > front" (sorry) about it. But it must've been a thing before, I mean
> > the dead wise guy has certainly seen them before. Maybe Janice
> > Meredith has too ... or maybe she's an early blurber.
> >

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