[Ads-l] Blurb and blurbing

Thu May 16 12:01:22 UTC 2019

I dunno. This is the first I've heard of a 1906 edition.

-----Original Message-----
From: "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 11:28pm
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Blurb and blurbing

Thanks for your response, Dave.

"Are You a Bromide?" was first published in 1906. The Bookseller's
Annual Dinner was held in May 1907. Was the word "blurb" coined in
1906 or 1907? Was the book jacket created in 1906 or 1907?

Advancing age and decrepitude led me to forget that I had already
raised these questions three years ago.
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2016-October/144544.html

So, I'll drop this topic.
Garson

On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 10:04 PM dave at wilton.net <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>
>
> I wrote that long ago. I seem to have got it from Mencken's American Language, Supplement 1, p. 329n–30n, which reads, in part:
>
> "Coined by Gelett Burgess in 1907. The story was thus told in Footnotes to a Publisher's Life, by B. W. Huebsch, in the Colophon, quoted in Word Study, May 1938, pp. 5–6. [...] 'It was the common practise to print the picture of a damsel—languishing, heroic, or coquettish—anyhow, a damsel on the jacket of every novel, so Burgess lifted from a Lydia Pinkham or tooth-powder advertisement the portrait of a sickly sweet young woman, painted in some gleaming teeth, and otherwise enhanced her pulchritude, and placed her in the center of the jacket. His accompanying text was some nonsense about "Miss Blinda Blurb," and thus the term supplied a real need and became a fixture in our language.'"
>
> It may be that the jacket text in these later editions is the same as the 1907 one, but if so, Huebsch, a publisher, seems to have been unaware of the term at the time. It would seem, perhaps, that Burgess's implication that the term was already in use is part of the joke.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 8:59pm
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Blurb and blurbing
>
>
>
> 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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

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