[Ads-l] Blurb and blurbing

Fri May 17 18:59:37 UTC 2019

Fred Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> FWIW, here is a Burgess entry from the forthcoming second edition of the Yale Book of Quotations:
>
> YES, this is a "BLURB" !  All the Other Publishers commit them.  Why Shouldn't We ?
>
> Dust Jacket for _Are You a Bromide ?_ (1907).  Earliest usage of the word _blurb_.
> This dust jacket, with a portrait of "Miss Belinda Blurb," was apparently specially added
> to copies of the 1906 book distributed at the 1907 annual dinner of the American
> Booksellers' Association.

Thanks Fred. Based on current information, that looks like an
excellent analysis.

The Google Books database has scans from some of the printings of "Are
You A Bromide". The book was popular enough to require several
reprints.  The scans of the early printings I looked at did not
include the book jacket, unfortunately.

Here is a link to scans of the third printing in December 1906.

https://books.google.com/books?id=vmgm7F45OGcC&

[Begin excerpt]
COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY
ESS ESS PUBLISHING COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY
B. W. HUEBSCH

First Printing, October, 1906
Second Printing, November, 1906
Third Printing, December, 1906
[End excerpt]

The note within the book indicated that the primary text was reprinted
from "The Smart Set" magazine. The first copyright was for "ESS ESS
PUBLISHING COMPANY", and that is the publishing company of "The Smart
Set".

[Begin excerpt]
NOTE

This essay is reprinted, with revisions
and additions, from “The Sulphitic
Theory” published in “The Smart Set”
for April, 1906, by consent of the editors.
[End excerpt]

Here is a link to scans of the fifth printing in June, 1907.

https://books.google.com/books?id=NU4LAAAAIAAJ&

[Begin excerpt]
COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY
ESS ESS PUBLISHING COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY
B. W. HUEBSCH

First Printing, October, 1906
Second Printing, November, 1906
Third Printing, December, 1906
Fourth Printing, February, 1907
Fifth Printing, June, 1907
[End excerpt]

Garson

> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of dave at wilton.net <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Sent: Friday, May 17, 2019 7:40 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Blurb and blurbing
>
>
> The LOC website with the images you originally linked to says the images are of the "jacket" and date to 1940. (This could, of course, be a miscataloguing, but absent other evidence I would assume the LOC has it right.) They are clearly not from the 1906/07 edition of the book because the dates given in the image are later. Having an ad on a book jacket would not be the least unusual.
>
> The Gutenberg site has the text of the book, but not of the paratext (e.g., the jacket).
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Andy Bach" <afbach at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2019 10:41am
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Blurb and blurbing
>
>
>
> > These images are from a 1940 edition of the book.
>
> I *think* the gift was in 1944 and what images are are not of the book
> but the pamphlet that Burgess handed around at the meeting to tout his
> book as the other pages are ads for his other books and the Library of
> Congress stamp
> Gutenberg has the whole book:
> https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gutenberg.org%2Febooks%2F10870&data=02%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C2ae88e6ea0ff4926f10508d6dabc8511%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C1%7C636936900566000138&sdata=%2FVmh%2FQ1xrhOC5E9ZSQ1nmNQ2ODrhHqteCacnhJFGuhs%3D&reserved=0
>
> I guess it's supposed to be funny.
>
>
> On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 1:32 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://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.loc.gov%2Fresource%2Frbpe.24203600%2F%3Fst%3Dgallery&data=02%7C01%7Cfred.shapiro%40yale.edu%7C2ae88e6ea0ff4926f10508d6dabc8511%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C1%7C636936900566000138&sdata=EJm4tBHursEIiQwRJ%2BrU3oEhRo%2F1%2Bewl7pLbDceb3Uk%3D&reserved=0
> >
> > 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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
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>
>
>
> --
>
> a
>
> Andy Bach,
> afbach at gmail.com
> 608 658-1890 cell
> 608 261-5738 wk
>
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