Melville House Books

In the past, I have kvetched when downsizing newspapers have justified shrinking book sections by saying “They don’t draw the ads they used to.” Pshaw, said I. They never generated that many ads. In the past, I have proclaimed, they never played up the appearance of a writer the way they do now. Who knew what they looked like or gave a damn?, I carped. In the past, I have confidently noted, promotional text was much more straightforward and honest — none of this biff-bang-pow stuff you have to write now.

Er, I might have been wrong on a couple of those claims, as this New York Times slideshow of old newspaper ads for books seems to indicate. While it’s still unethical to say ads from an industry should determine how much coverage you give the news from that industry, well, there’s no denying there are a lot of ads here. And it seems the way the author looks did matter — every one includes an author photo, and prominently at that. The write-ups are amazing, too — although it’s somehow comforting to note the simple amount of text they include, which is to say, a lot.

However, lest you think that text was particularly more articulate, there’s ample evidence of the hard-sell tenor reminiscent of a used-car salesman that now permeates the biz — such as the use of a Jacqueline Susann blurb for a Rex Reed book, back when Reed was still a higly respected representative of the heady New Journalism: “Whether you read in the nude or in a bikini, Rex Reed’s Do You Sleep In The Nude is perfect for bed or the beach.”

Hmm. I prefer the one for a Tom Wolfe book that says: “Tom Wolfe is a goddamn joy.”

So are these ads.

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.