Topical Guide 261
Mark Dorset
Books: Five-Foot Shelf of
Marketing: Subscription Schemes
“I’ve got something for you, Herb, something to sell. Better than newspapers. Better than those rat pies.” …
“What is it?” asked Herb.
“Books,” said Ben.
“Books?” asked Herb.
“Yep,” said Ben. “Books. Professor Clapp’s Five-Foot Shelf of Indispensable Information for Modern Times. It’s a great sche — ”
He saw the fear in Millie’s eyes, and he raised his hands quickly, waving them in front of her as if to erase what he had said.
“It’s a great arrangement,” he corrected himself. “You go to a house, show the books, and you make the people want them, even though they can’t afford to buy them and probably wouldn’t get around to reading all of them if they did. Now here’s the beauty of it. You pipe up with, ‘Mr. Whoosis, I wonder if we might step outside for a smoke?’ When you get Whoosis alone, you say, ‘Please, Mr. Whoosis, let me spare you any embarrassment. The cost of the entire five-foot shelf of books is indeed quite high, as I’m sure you’ve guessed from the quality of the books themselves. Suppose I were to tell you that the first book can be yours, right now, for just five cents.’ He can’t believe it, of course. But it’s true. You give him the first book for a nickel and get him to sign a paper saying he’ll buy another book every month for fifty-nine cents a book until he’s bought the whole five-foot shelf.”Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 4
See also: Books, Real and Fictional TG 99
Cocktails with a Curator: Turner’s “Harbor of Dieppe”
In this episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, discusses the French port city depicted in J. M. W. Turner’s painting “Harbor of Dieppe: Changement de Domicile,” and how the artist’s extensive travel throughout Europe helped to develop his affinity for harbors.
The complementary cocktail is the Widow’s Kiss, a French drink traditionally given to women who had lost their husbands at sea.
Cocktail Recipe
Widow’s Kiss
1 1/2 Calvados
1/2 Benedictine D.O.M.
1/2 Yellow Chartreuse liqueur
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
mint leaf
[more to come on Wednesday, May 18, 2022]
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