“A Century of Classic American Book Advertisements,” Read Me is a fascinating collection of more than 300 surprising and strange, beautiful and funny vintage book ads that together reveal the hidden history of
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Editorial Reviews
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“Stare at this book for hours, linger on a single image, and by the end of the weekend, you’ve made a grand excursion through the literary history of the 20th century.” (Chicago Tribune (Printer's Row Blog) )
“These small but punchy ads bring back a time when new books were an essential part of the cultural conversation.” (Newsday )
“These small but punchy ads bring back a time when new books were an essential part of the cultural conversation.” (Newsday )
From the Back Cover
This witty and heavily illustrated volume features more than 300 vintage book advertisements—startling and strange, beautiful and funny—that together reveal a kind of secret history of American literature over the last century.
New York Times book critic Dwight Garner brings together original ads for some of the most acclaimed and best-selling books of the twentieth century, including The Great Gatsby, Ulysses, On the Road, Invisible Man, Lolita, Silent Spring, The Joy of Sex, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, White Noise, and dozens of other classics. These ads show us famous books when they were simply new volumes jostling for attention on bookstore shelves, not yet icons of our literary culture. And the ads capture many beloved authors—Toni Morrison, Cormac McCarthy, Susan Sontag, and Kurt Vonnegut among a great many others—at moments before their careers were assured, before their personas had hardened into those of "famous writers."
In his introduction, Garner explains the changing styles of book advertising; explores the cross-pollination between literature and the world of advertising, in which many writers—including Don DeLillo, Salman Rushdie, and James Patterson—worked before publishing their first books; and makes a convincing case that these vintage ads are important and lasting literary documents.
Read Me is a fascinating and unusual romp through literary history, and an ideal gift for any reader.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Browsing through this collection of book advertisements, dating back to the 1900s, is like going through the world's coolest high-school yearbook, but one with books instead of people -- you get to see all your favorite books when they were young and fresh-faced, and sometimes a little dorky. ("And the women--what women you meet!" an ad for Joseph Conrad screams, replete with cheesy silent-movie-type illustration of a distressed damsel. And check out the young Cormac McCarthy, from 1968, looking like a sportscaster.) It's an intriguing look at the nature and techniques of advertising (one ad, from the 1940s, wants you to know that the quoted reviews were not written under the influence of marijuana), but, for book-lovers, it's also a really fun romp, with lots of oddball discoveries and familiar old friends.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Jerry Beck
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed reading Dwight Garner's book. The ads represent how readers first heard of many of these books, and the way these classic books were "sold" to the public. It's fascinating social history - and quite a joy to browse. I highly recommend this. You may quote me: "I couldn't put it down!"
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Dwight Garner's Read Me: A Century of Classic American Book Advertisements is a treasure trove of an area of publishing that's normally overlooked by many: book advertisements. Inside you'll find over 300 vintage book advertisements, many for titles that are celebrated, some infamous, and some that are quite obscure. Starting with ads for "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "Huckleberry Finn" the author explains, "Together these random advertisements tell a story - a kind of secret history, narrated in public - about America's literary culture over the past century of more."
The author is a literary critic for The New York Times, and for this book, he delved into the archives of his own paper and other periodicals. The ads themselves often expose uneven printing, the results of ink rubbing off paper, and even the shade of a fold here and there.
Garner's commentary is tied to each decade, and helps provide us with a chronicle about the changes in book advertising over the years. The ads usually appeared in the book sections of newspapers, and many of them brought back warm memories of favorite titles over the years, along with some from earlier eras. The black & white reproduced images are by and large quite clear, but the need of putting more than one on a page results in print can be sometime a bit small and somewhat difficult to read without glasses.
With over 300 advertisements, there are too many to list, but some can be comical of you know the book. One of the best of these is a two-page instruction manual published in The Saturday Review of Literature on February 10, 1934 on how to enjoy James Joyce's Ulysses. This included a diagram of Dublin, a list of characters complete with their counterparts in Homer's Odyssey, and the chapter summaries. This ad was introduced with the following hopeful words:
"For those who are already engrossed in the reading of Ulysses as well as for those who hesitate to begin it because they fear that it is obscure, the publishers offer this simple clue to what the critical fuss is all about. Ulysses is no harder to 'understand' than say any other great classic. It is essentially a story and can be enjoyed as such. Do not let the critics confuse you."
Remember that Joyce's highly regarded novel was banned as being obscene in the U.S. until the historic 'United States v. One Book Called Ulysses' trial in 1933, where it was ruled that the book was not pornographic and therefore could not be obscene.
Garner reminds us that advertising is really about placing a book into "a potential reader's line of sight." The examples used in this book show us which ones had successful results, and a few that did not.
Fans of the Mad Men television series might really enjoy this as there are some book ads from that era that are truly excellent, but I'm not dropping any spoilers here. At 9 ˝ x 7 ˝ x 0.9 inches this is no pretentious coffee table book, but one to be read and enjoyed by anyone with an interest in books, authors or advertising. It does homage to a bygone era.
6/6/2012
The author is a literary critic for The New York Times, and for this book, he delved into the archives of his own paper and other periodicals. The ads themselves often expose uneven printing, the results of ink rubbing off paper, and even the shade of a fold here and there.
Garner's commentary is tied to each decade, and helps provide us with a chronicle about the changes in book advertising over the years. The ads usually appeared in the book sections of newspapers, and many of them brought back warm memories of favorite titles over the years, along with some from earlier eras. The black & white reproduced images are by and large quite clear, but the need of putting more than one on a page results in print can be sometime a bit small and somewhat difficult to read without glasses.
With over 300 advertisements, there are too many to list, but some can be comical of you know the book. One of the best of these is a two-page instruction manual published in The Saturday Review of Literature on February 10, 1934 on how to enjoy James Joyce's Ulysses. This included a diagram of Dublin, a list of characters complete with their counterparts in Homer's Odyssey, and the chapter summaries. This ad was introduced with the following hopeful words:
"For those who are already engrossed in the reading of Ulysses as well as for those who hesitate to begin it because they fear that it is obscure, the publishers offer this simple clue to what the critical fuss is all about. Ulysses is no harder to 'understand' than say any other great classic. It is essentially a story and can be enjoyed as such. Do not let the critics confuse you."
Remember that Joyce's highly regarded novel was banned as being obscene in the U.S. until the historic 'United States v. One Book Called Ulysses' trial in 1933, where it was ruled that the book was not pornographic and therefore could not be obscene.
Garner reminds us that advertising is really about placing a book into "a potential reader's line of sight." The examples used in this book show us which ones had successful results, and a few that did not.
Fans of the Mad Men television series might really enjoy this as there are some book ads from that era that are truly excellent, but I'm not dropping any spoilers here. At 9 ˝ x 7 ˝ x 0.9 inches this is no pretentious coffee table book, but one to be read and enjoyed by anyone with an interest in books, authors or advertising. It does homage to a bygone era.
6/6/2012
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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