" DETRIMENTAL WRAPPERS AND BLURBS AND ADVERTISEMENTS."

Book Description

[London: Society of Authors, ca. 1934].. Three long folded letterpress galleys. Relevant pencil annotations, otherwise about fine. Three copies of the letterpress galley for this article by Wells, ca. 400 words, on the problems associated with sensationalized blurbs and advertisements for books mischaracterizing their actual content, singling out his own THE SCIENCE OF LIFE, as well as Richard Calder's BIRTH OF THE FUTURE, as examples of books ill-served by their publisher's attempts to promote them. In the case of the former, "our publisher intimates quite plainly that our book is a compilation of scientific smut, spook- nonsense and general 'extraordinariness" for curious minds. This is not selling a book; it is killing a book." The pencil notes (not in Wells's hand) add a postscript: "Mr. Wells, whose article reached me in April, asks me to say that the wrapper in question has now been withdrawn and a more appropriate one substituted - Ed. The Author." A relatively early note, in ink, on an envelope containing the galleys, indicates the article was scheduled for publication in the Summer 1934 issue of THE AUTHOR, but withdrawn at Wells's request.

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