[Ads-l] Blurb and blurbing

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

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.
>
> --
>
> a
>
> Andy Bach,
> afbach at gmail.com
> 608 658-1890 cell
> 608 261-5738 wk
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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