[Ads-l] Blurb and blurbing

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Dave Wilton's webpage on this topic suggests that the book jacket with
the word "blurb" was specifically created for the 1907 gathering, and
it was not used in 1906.

http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/blurb/

[Begin excerpt]
Blurb was coined by the American humorist Gelett Burgess in 1907.
According to his publisher, B.W. Huebsch, Burgess’s book, Are You a
Bromide?, had been published and was selling well. At the annual trade
association dinner that year the publisher distributed some five
hundred copies of the book with a special jacket, as was the custom.
It was also:

the common practise to print the picture of a damsel—languishing,
heroic, or coquettish—anyhow, a damsel on the jacket of every novel.
[End excerpt]

I don't remember if this was discussed before.
Garson

On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 6:04 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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.
> > >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org