| Researcher | Author: Title | |
| Elizabeth Avins | McCutcheon, George Barr: Beverly of Graustark | |
| Assignment 1: Bibliographic Description | ||
| 1. First Edition Publication Information | George Barr McCutcheon. Beverly of Graustark. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1904. | |
| 2. First Edition in Cloth, Paper, or Both? | This monograph is a First American edition in cloth binding. | |
| 3. Image of Cover Art | A1319990422124943.jpg | |
| 4. Pagination | 188 leaves, pp. [6]1-34[2]35-142[2]143-208[2]209-354[2] 355-357[3] | |
| 5. Edited and/or Introduced? | None | |
| 6. Illustrated? | This monograph contains color illustrations on glossy stock by Harrison Fisher. Some of the illustrations are signed. The illustrated plates are facing pages 34, 142, 209 and 355. Each illustration includes a quote from a character in the scene being conveyed. For example, the plate facing page 34 is an illustration of Beverly stepping out of her coach to encounter a vag abond. The quote is "Who-who in heaven's name are you?" The illustrations describe the scenes nicely and serve to further captivate the reader. The illustrations measure approximately 90mm wide X 130mm high.The plates measure 180mm X 120 mm. | |
| 7. Sample Illustration | A1719990422124943.jpg | |
| 8. General Appearance | The Print is of good size and is easy on the eyes. The page is 186mm X 125mm. The size of text is 142mm X 85mm.The monograph type is 90R. The type face is serif. The chapters headings are in capitols and the chapter titles are in capital italics. The first few letters of the beginning of the chapters are in capitols. The first letter of each chapter is placed within an ornamented square. | |
| 9. Image of Sample Chapter Page | A1919990422124943.jpg | |
| 10. Description of Paper | The paper is woven. All pages have water damage that has caused discoloration and warping. The parts of the pages without water damage are slightly discolored, but in good condition. The plates on glossy paper also have water damage. The back side of illustrations have some color bleed from illustrations due to water damage. The paper also has minor foxing. The damage to the monograph has not effected the readability. | |
| 11. Description of Binding | The binding cover has a dotted-line grain and is medium blue. The wording is stamped in a light yellow (cream). There is a pencil illustration of Beverly pasted on the right hand side of the cover that measures 181 mm X 50mm. | |
| 12. Title Page Transcription | The transcription is as follows: Recto: BEVERLY/OF/GRAUSTARK GEORGE BARR/McCUTHEON Spine:BEVERLY/OF/GRAUSTARK GEORGE BARR/McCUTCHEON Verso: Blank Cover Page: Recto: BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK/BY/ GEORGE BARR McCUTHEON/ AUTHOR OF/"GRAUSTARK," "CASTLE CRANEYCROW," ETC./ WITH ILLUSTRATIONS/BY HARRISON N FISHER/ NEW YORK/DODD, MEAD & COMPANY/1904 VERSO: COPYRIGHT, 1904,/BY/DODD, MEAD & COMPANY./ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED./ DRAMATIC RIGHTS RESERVED BY/THE AUTHOR,/ PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER, 1904. | |
| 13. Image of Title Page | A11319990503193708.jpg | |
| 15. Other | Inscribed on flyleaf in black pen in cursive "From A. Kyselka. Christmas 1904." | |
| Assignment 2: Publication History | ||
| 1. Other Editions: | Dodd, Mead and Copy never released another edition of Beverly of Graustark and reprinted as many as nine editions of the original edition. See questions 5 for other editions.
Source: Publisher's Weekly advertisements state that Beverly of Graustark was in its ninth edition in 1904. | |
| 4. First Edition printings or impressions? | Dodd, Mead & Company:
1904-New York, $1.50. 1905-New York, 357 p., 4 col pl. 20 cm. 1906-New York, 357 p., ill., 20 cm. 1920-New York, 357 p. Grosset & Dunlop: 1904-New York, 357 p., Col. Illus. 20 cm 50 cents. 1926-New York, 357 p., plates, 20 cm, 75 cents. Scribner & Sons: 1916-New York, 357 p., ill., 19 cm. Hodder & Stoughton: 1905-London, 357 p., 4 col, pl. 20 cm. 1905-London, 357p., [with a different title page]. B.F. Stevens & Brown: 1904-London, New York, 357 p., with illustrations. 1904-London, New York, with a different title page and without illustrations. McLead & Allen: 1904-Toronto, Canada,[with a different title page]. 1904-Toronto, Canada, [with illustrations]. | |
| 5. Editions from other publishers? | B. Anundsen Publishing Company:
1915-Decorah, IA, 1904, 360 p., 19 cm. 1917-March, Decorah, IA. [Norwegian Translation], 360 p., 50 cents. Grosset & Dunlop: 1926-New York, illustrated with scenes from the Metro Goldwyn-Mayer photoplay starring Marrion Davies. 1926- New York, 363p., 75 cents. Klaw & Erlanger: 1914-New York, 35 p., 23 cm., scenario. Sources: Original card catalog at the Library of Congress British Library Catalog National Union Catalog Pre 1956 National Union Catalog Post 1956 RLIN WorldCat Eureka | |
| 6. Last date in print? | 1926 | |
| 7. Total copies sold? | 315,000
Source: Tebbel, John. A History of Book Publishing in the United States, V. II; The Expansion of an Industry 1865-1919: R.R. Bowker, 1975. 750,000 Source:Garraty & Carnes, ed. American National Biography, V. 15: Oxford University Press, New York, 1999. | |
| 8. Sales by year? | unavailable | |
| 9. Advertising copy: | Advertisements from Publisher's Weekly, 1904.
By phone, by wire, by mail...from all over the county orders are coming in for BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK. The new novel by George Barr McCutcheon. Author of "Graustark," "Castle Craneycrow." Etc. THE BEST SELLING BOOK IN THE UNITED STATES TODAY The Mail and Express, in a long review of this book, makes the statement, "that of all the current stories by favorites of the 'best-selling novel' period, this is by far the best and most entertaining;" that the book is eminently readable,and that it is superior to Graustark. This is also the judgement of many others. Early orders indicate that this book is to be one of the great successes of the year. We are advertising this book 'for sale everywhere" This is the book everybody is talking about. For sale everywhere. But sufficient to illustrate how this book is being brought to public notice. Advertising mediums in every city of any importance are being used regularly. The demand for "Beverly" continues unabated. The orders average from to 3000 copies a day. The total for a day has gone as high as 5000. The reason is plain. Given a strong, virile story by one of our most noted authors, warmly commended by the press, perfect in mechanical execution; and strong and wide publicity. Result: Nine Large Editions in less than three months-the demand constantly exceeding the supply, and "Bevely of Graustark" THE BEST-SELLING BOOK IN THE UNITED STATES. | |
| 10. Image of sample advertisement | A21019990502220521.jpg | |
| 11. Other promotion? | Perhaps as the result of promotion there was a line dance created called the Graustark. There was also a race horse named Graustark that ran in the Kentucky Derby. | |
| 12. Performances in other media? | Film:
Beverly of Graustark, Cosmopolitan Productions. Distribution: Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Distributing Corporation. March 22, 1926. Black and white with color sequence. 35 mm.,7 reels, 6,710 or 6,977 feet. Director: Sydney Franklin. Titl Joe Farnham. Adapt Agnes Christine Johnston. Photography Percy Hilburn, Art Dir. Cedric Gibbons, Richard Day. Film Ed. Frank Hull. Wardrobe Kathleen Kay, Maude Marsh Andre-Ani. Cast: Marion Davies, (Beverly Calhoun), Antonio Moreno (Danton), Creighton Hale (Prince Oscar), Roy D'Aroy (General Marlanx) Albert Gran, (Duke Travina) Paulette Duval, (Caslotta) Max Barwyn, (Saranoff) Charles Clary (Mr. Calhoun) Source: American Film Institute: Feature Films, 1921-1930 Note: Marion Davies, the star of this movie kept a scrapbook collection of the movie's ephemera. The scrapbook contains clippings about the film. The record of this collection was found in WorldCat. Ownership listed as: "Check catalog in your library." (I worked with reference librarian at the Library of Congress to find where this collections is located. Neither one of us were able to do this.) Collections accession number: 18056499. Play: Beverly; A Play in Four Acts......A Dramatization of the Novel Beverly of Graustark. David Belasco, 1905. Source: National Union Catalog Pre 1956 | |
| 13. Translations? | B. Anundsen Publishing Company, March, 1917, Decorah, IA.[Norwegian Translation], 360 p., 50 cents. | |
| 14. Serialization? | N/A | |
| 15. Sequels or Prequels? | Prequel:
Graustark: the Story of a Love Behind a Throne, (1901). Castle Craneycrow, (1902). Sequels: Truxton King; a Story of Graustark, (1909) The Prince of Graustark, (1914) The Inn of the Hawk and the Raven, (1927). | |
| Assignment 3: Brief Biography | ||
| George Barr McCutcheon was born July 26, 1866 in South Raub, Tippecanoe County, Indiana to Clara Glick McCutcheon and Barr McCutcheon. Clara was of a well-to-do German family. Barr was from Scottish ancestors who emigrated to the United States in 1730. Through the generations, the McCutcheons had been livestock farmers, George McCutcheon's father included. Although the McCutcheons were not wealthy, they placed a high value on education and culture and were voracious readers. George grew up in a house where attending operas, plays and other cultural happenings were common place. This was in great contrast to the mostly Calvinist attitude of their fellow neighbors. From these beginnings, George developed a vivid imagination and spent many hours dreaming up adventures and far off lands to visit. He even created theatricals with his siblings based on the stories that he dreamt up in his imagination. George was the eldest of three children. He remained close to his younger brothers and sister throughout his life.
In 1882 McCutcheon attended Perdue University in Indiana, but failed his exams in his second year and was dismissed. (It was said that McCutcheon failed his exams because he spent the majority of his studying time on extracurricular writing.) In reaction to his dismissal, McCutcheon joined a traveling theatrical company. When this venture failed, McCutcheon then went to work as a reporter for the Lafayette Journal. In 1893 he became the city editor of the Lafayette Daily Courier. During this time, McCutcheon wrote plays and short stories without much success in getting published. However, in 1901 McCutcheon hit the jackpot with his novel Graustark. Published by the H.S. Stone Company, this book became a best seller. Set in a far off imaginary land in eastern Europe, Graustark was a romantic novel about royalty and the ultimate defeat of evil in the face of love. Throughout his life, McCutcheon continued to be a best selling author and was quite prolific. The sales of his books made him a wealthy man. He wrote five sequels to Graustark including: Castle Craneycrow, (1902), Beverly of Graustark, (1904), Truxton King; a Story of Graustark, (1909), The Prince of Graustark, (1914) and The Inn of the Hawk and the Raven, (1927). In total, McCutcheon published forty novels including: Brewster's Millions, (1902), The Sherrods, (1903), The Day of the Dog, (1904), The Purple Parasol, (1905), Jane Cable, (1905), Cowardice Court, (1906), Nedra, (1906), The Flyers, (1907), Daughter of Anderson Crow, (1907), The Husbands of Edith, (1908), The Man from Brodney's, (1908), Black is White, Mr. Bingle, From the Hilltops, Yollop and Oliver October. Published plays include: Brood House, Mary Midthorne, (1911), Anderson Crow, Detective, (1920), One Score and Ten, The Man Who Loved Children, The Poinley Affair, Mr. Smilk and the Double Doctor. McCutcheon also wrote numerous short stories and magazine articles. After his first novel Graustark was published by H.S. Stone Publishing Company, McCutcheon mainly published with Dodd, Mead and Company. McCutcheon's true love had always been with writing for the theatre. Ironically, because of his success with novels, he was unable to break into the playwright scene as the commonly held belief of the time was that novelists did not make good playwrights. Regardless of McCutcheon's lack of success in this area, he wrote several plays which in retrospect are considered to be his most serious and valuable works. Unlike McCutcheon's innocent and love drenched romantic novels, his plays were often ironic and complex works that involved the darker side of relationships and human nature. However, McCutcheon was largely viewed by his critics as a "puff" writer. McCutcheon resented this description, but was unable to gain wide acceptance with his plays. On the record, McCutcheon defended his romantic novels. In fact, he often lamented about society's loss of romance in favor of a bland realism and reasoned "Why read for realism when one can read for thrills?" Retiring and self-effacing in nature, McCutcheon married relatively late in life to Marie Proudfoot Van Antwerp Fay, the daughter of a lawyer-politician in September, 1904. Marie had one child from a previous marriage that McCutcheon adopted. The McCutcheons had one child of their own that died moments after birth. Thereafter, Marie was unable to have more children. The McCutcheons moved to New York City from Chicago in 1910. McCutcheon formed close and life long friendships with other figures in the literary field including George Ade, Frank Dodd and Booth Tarkington. McCutcheon died at age 62 in 1928 of a heart attack while chatting with members of the Dutch Treat Club, a social/literary gathering which had met at Hotel Martinique located at Broadway and Thirty-second Street in New York City. Most of McCutcheon's manuscripts and letters are in the Berg Collection at the New York Public Library, at the New Berry Library in Chicago, and in the libraries of Indiana University, Purdue University and Yale University. Sources: Garraty, Mark C & Carnes, John A., ed., American National Biography, v. 15, Oxford University Press, 1999. The New York Times, p1, October 24, 1928. The National Cyclopedia of American Biography; Being the History of the United States, edited by distinguished biographers, v. XIV, New York, James T. White & Company, 1910. Buying a Ticket to Graustark, The Literary Digest, p47, November 17, 1928, p 51. Lazarus, A.L., Biography, George Barr McCutcheon: Youth and Drama, P208. Summer 1981. | ||
| Assignment 4 | ||
| Contemporary Reception: | ||
| Beverly of Graustark was well loved by the public at the time of its publication. Many critics also gave the book very favorable reviews from a variety of American newspapers and journals. The following were taken from advertisements used in Publisher's Weekly.
The Literary World Here is a book just waiting for some intelligent, ambitious playwright to prepare it for the footlights. Its possibilities are splendid. It is a fresh, sparkling vivid story, written with an easy naturalness that takes you by the hand and leads you into the care-free land of romance without giving you time to question whither you are going; and once there, you are only too pleased to stay until you are gracefully dismissed. New York American Mr. McCutcheon has written a powerful romance-one that will hold the interest of even the most blase reader rigidly fixed until the last chapter has been eagerly, feverishly read. Those who neglect this opportunity to know 'Beverly' are unconsiously depriving themselves of several hours of the keenest delight that can be imagined. Boston Herald Of all the current stories by a favorite of the literary stage,'Beverly of Graustark' George Barr McCutcheon's latest novel, is by far the most fascinating, engrossing and picturesque. Newark Advertiser It is fully as good as Graustark, and contrains as pretty a love story as ever was written. It is a book that will strongly appeal to the general reader. While Beverly of Graustark received rave reviews from some important newspapers and journals, there were also a number of critics of the day that found this genre of novels to be empty and below literary merit. Overall, it appears that much of the American reading public loved Beverly of Graustark as can be seen from its brisk sales. The Dial, p. 404, November 5, 1904 Sequels are proverbially dangerous things to attempt, but Mr. George B. McCutcheon's 'Beverly of Graustark,' ...has taken no great risks. Both books are absurd from every point of view except that of invention, and invention is about all the saving grace that is called for by the class of readers whose interest they enlist. It is a harmless sort of book, capable of affording an hour of agreeable diversion. Literary Digest, p. 57, December 12, 1904. His original "Graustark" has never stopped selling, "Castle Craneycrow" was a big hit, and now it develops that because someone said "McCutcheon's name, not his skill, sells the books. The 'Beverly of Graustark' was directed in a similar way that the book was written. That is, it emphasized the romantic with beautiful and opulent scenes while ignoring aspects of the film that could have contributed to its believability. Variety Film Reviews Miss Davies falls down here because in her impersonation of young prince, she cannot help looking like a girl-thus giving the picture a prince too effeminate for plausibility, while the scenarios are incompletre and not sufficiently plain in spots. But it is an entertaining picture which will be satisfactory to the general run of houses, even if not a knockout for the de luxe first runs. Enhancing its value considerably is a color sequence introduced at the end in which Miss Davies shows to real advantage. A good cast. The cutting has been done with a view to keeping the star in the foreground, it would appear, and it does seem that not a shot appears but what she's in the middle of it-but at that, stars are supposed to be omnipresent. "Beverly of Graustark is a good picture but could have been better. | ||
| Subsequent Reception: | ||
| In examining the reception history five years and more after the publication of Beverly of Graustark, critics usually assess the entire series of 'Graustark' books. Because the books are so similar in content, I believe the reviews of the 'Graustark' series also accurately reflect what a more narrow investigation of 'Beverly of Graustark' would. Most all critics agree that the 'Graustark' series were light hearted romantic novels that did not have a place with the more serious and realistic novels of their time.
Biography McCutcheon's "Graustark" romances, which reached millions of readers and movie goers in the early 1900s, were deliberate potboilers; they should not be judged as "unfulfilled promises." The fulfilled promises, still in holographs and typescripts, consist of parody melodrama, satrical farce, and other projects begun in his precocious youth and early manhood. The Strenuous Age A contributor to the Bookman..., who wrote kindly of a story by McCutcheon...had no illusions about the worth of that tale; he knew the differences between it and a novel by James or by Edith Wharton, but he also considered the purpose of the popular work and the service it could render to a certain kind of reader,...he was enough of a humanist to give a place to the poor things that were our own, the stories of escape that supplied legitimate reasons for reading. The Strenuous Age Common sense, however, may assume [that the books] were read for their faculty to amuse, to provide shade in the heat of the day, and that only adolescents took them seriously. Surely no one over twenty believed that McCutcheon, publishing an annual best seller during these four years, was giving g a transcript of life in the United States or even on a tropical island, where he might lay his scene. The Strenuous Age Although popular reading taste was not high it would be a mistake to assume that nearly all bookholders from 1905 to 1909 were content with the vapid novels of a George Barr McCutcheon. George Barr McCutcheon: Youth and Drama These, [the 'Graustark' novels] along with his other sentimental romances, he probably should not have published, let alone written, and they deserve their desuetude. Too many of them were potboilers, as he himself admitted to Montrose Moses, a New York Times drama critic. Sources: Lazarus, A.L.: George Barr McCutcheon: Youth and Drama, Biography, p208, 1981. McCutcheon, George Barr, Christmas in Graustark, Literary Digest, p404, November. The Dial, p312, November 16, 190. Literary Digest, Buying a Ticket to Graustark, p51, November 17, 1928. p.51. The Literary World, p331, November, . Publisher's Weekly, 1904 Knight, Grant C., The Strenuous Age in American Literature, The University of North Carolina Press, North Carolina, 1954. Variety Film Reviews 1907-1980, Garland Publishing , Inc., New York & London, 1983. | ||
| Assignment 5 | ||
| Critical Essay: | ||
| Many readers of Beverly of Graustark developed ideas about George Barr
McCutcheon that were far from accurate. Because McCutcheon had written about royalty in an exotic far off kingdom, it was thought that he must also live a life very similar to those of his characters. The characters of the Graustark novels in many cases were believed to be real, but mostly, so naive were many of his readers that they thought Graustark was a real place and many times they thought that McCutcheon could provide them with travel directions and advice. This can be evidenced in an article appearing the Literary Digest. "Graustark and its capital city, Edelweiss, had been made so real by their creator that many a reader was convinced of their actual existence ... eight tenths of his [McCutcheon's] letters from strangers were written in the belief that these places had actual existence." (1928, 51). An even more astounding occurrence was that some readers, "asserted or suggested relationships with the royal families of Graustark or the adjacent States, or with the American heroes and heroines." (1928, 51). The romantic novel often caused a blurring between reality and fantasy. The reality of McCutcheon was that he was a quiet man who was often described as a workaholic. He was such a prolific writer that he wouldn't have had the time to spend leisurely hours with royalty even if he knew any. Perhaps most ironic of all, McCutcheon had only been to Europe once in his life and this was late in his life. (See image 1 in supplementary materials for a photograph of George Barr McCutcheon.) The impetus for the romantic novel started at the turn of the century when America was immersed in the Industrial Revolution. Mass production had created a rapid paced environment and a plethora of new and improved products. With this came a dreary sameness and lack of creativity in goods and services. At the same time, due to the success of the Industrial Revolution, the United States was enjoying a period of peace and prosperity. Regarding foreign relations, "America was prospering and was looking inward, not outward to the rest of the world. American turned a blind eye to international issues and adopted an isolationist stance" (Knight 1955, 53). The reaction against the ordinary, and also a lack of knowledge and concern for international issues, Americans adopted escapist, make-believe fiction as its first choice of reading material. Namely, this was historical and romantic novels. The historical novel was "a revolt against democracy, against the routine and commonplacenes of everyday living in the crowd, against standardization of house and clothes and furnishings, against the tame and mediocre (Knight 1955, 126). Advertisers were quick to pick up on this trend toward romantic and historic novels and placed advertisements in literary journals as sources that underscored the romantic content of these novels. Primarily, they emphasized the appeal of the exotic far away setting with beautiful heroines, dashing heroes and romantic landscapes. For example, an advertisement in Publisher's Weekly advertised Sarah Orne Jewett's The Tory Lover with the following lines, "the Tory Lover [is]...a noble character, while Mary Hamilton herself is one of the most attractive heroines in modern fiction." In Publisher's Weekly, The Black Douglas is described as "romantic Scottish scenes and the beautiful women who loved the warrior earl are depicted in the author's best manner."The appeal of things exotic and romantic became such a boon that advertisements for cruise ships and travel books appeared along-side advertisements for romantic novels. It often had an effect of blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. For example, an advertisement in the Bookman Advertiser for Canadian Pacific Cruise Ships has a picture of a large cruise ship superimposed with a smaller romantic looking mast ship from the 17th century. Another example of this is an ad placed in the Bookman Advertiser by the Penn Publishing Company for travel books. The ad reads "Why do people travel? Why do people read books of travel? To see and learn of unusual places...To find a strange city is an unforgettable thrill." Christmas brought even more romantic advertisements. For example, the book Maurine was advertised in the Literary Digest. Maurine was an assortment of things romantic. It was a narrative poem that featured photographs of models "selected for individual fitness for the character represented...[The] photographers took their views in the very locality in which the scenes of the story are laid." (See images 5 in Supplementary Materials for Maurine ad.) Amidst this bluster of romantic intrigue, the Graustark novels fit in quite well. Judging from the number of copies sold, 315,000 (Tebbel, 1975 233) and the number of new editions printed from the original publisher, 1904, 1905 and 1906, Beverly of Graustark remained quite popular for a number of years after its publication. It continued to enjoy new editions from other publishers into the 1920's. Beverly of Graustark was one of McCutcheon's hottest sellers. (See UVA web site below in sources.) It ranked #6 out of all of the bestsellers in 1904. McCutcheon was only to do better with Jane Cable, which ranked #5 in 1906. Beverly of Graustark was also made into a play entitled Beverly; a Play in Four Acts. This play was not successful and had little to no effect on the sale of the book. However, in 1926 Metro-Goldwyn released the film Beverly of Graustark. This film enjoyed modest success and spurred the reprint of Beverly of Graustark in 1926 as a photo edition. Overall, Beverly of Graustark was very much like other books of this era. For example, the top three books in 1904 were all historic/romantic novels and included Winston Churchill's The Crossing; Ellen Glasgow's The Deliverance and Katherine Cecil Thurston's The Masquerader. In examining Graustark, which was published by H.S. Stone, and Beverly of Graustark, which was published by Dodd, Mead and Company, one can see how different publishers chose to advertise which gives some insight into their publishing philosophy and outlook. H.S. Stone Company was founded in 1893 by Herbert Stuart Stone and Hannibal Ingalls Kimball, Jr. and lasted until 1905. Stone and Kimball met at Cambridge and decided to become partners. Kimball was mainly interested in marketing and advertising while Stone was interested in reseaching books to select for publication. It was said of Stone that "few other young publishers had ever presented such a prestigious roster of authors as an initial offering, and they came on the heels of First Editions, which had been an important book in directing the attention of American Collectors anew to native literature" (Tebbel 1975, 432). In 1896, the partnership between Stone and Kimball dissolved and Stone took over the business in its entirety. In 1899, Stone began selling different types of books that were not part of his line in the past. Instead of the classics, he branched out to sell popular fiction and magazines. During this period of time, Stone's brother Melville was the company's Advertiser. By 1903, the company was in serious distress as Stone lost many of his accounts. By 1905 the company folded. When Graustark was published, the H.S. Stone and Company took a sedate, business-like approach that was primarily aimed at booksellers. The overwhelming majority of ads that I surveyed were aimed at booksellers and only one was aimed at readers urging them to inquire about the book with the bookseller. (Also see image 4 Supplementary Materials.) The rest of the ads were speaking directly to the bookseller. For example, one ad reads, "Some have bought one copy at a time, and others have bought 5,000 at a time. But the majority have reordered even those who bought 5,000." Another ad lists the rising orders per month for one bookseller and another ad makes a direct sales pitch with abrupt, business-like language. "It is worth pushing and we are going to push it. We don't ask the trade to buy the book in quantities before we have made a demand for it. But we do wish the trade to have samples of it, so that the customers need not be turned away. Every copy you sell will sell five more copies for you. It's that kind of book. Every customer you turn away will mean that you lose the sale of five books and perhaps more." This approach must have been quite successful, as McCutcheon was an unknown author at this time and Graustark became a best seller. Yet, as McCutcheon went on to write more novels, he chose to publish with Dodd, Mead and Company where he thought he could do even better. Dodd, Mead and Company published Beverly of Graustark. Moses Dodd founded this company. In 1870, his son Frank took over the business with his cousin, Edward S. Mead. At one point, the firm was surviving on the sale of one book. Dodd decided to issue this high selling book by Martha Finley entitled, Elsie Dinsmore in two parts. Word of mouth got out and the book became even more popular. Dodd's energy and innovative ideas proved him to be a good businessman. Mead specialized in writing adult and children's books on colonial history. He also worked with enhancing the appearance of books by introducing colored ink stamping on the covers. Mead's personality was quite different from Dodd's, much like the partnership between Stone and Kimball. Both of these combinations worked well while thy lasted. Dodd, Mead & Company focussed most on starting innovative projects and successfully tapping into the market in ways that had not yet been tried. With Dodd's business sense and Mead's understanding of history and artistry, they built a very profitable publishing company. Dodd, Mead and Company used advertisements that were mostly aimed at the mass reading public and emphasized the popularity of the book with lines such as, "The book seems to have taken everywhere, and with everyone; proven by the fact that we are unable to supply the demand." and "This is the book everyone is talking about" (also see image 2 in the Supplementary Material). Another tactic used by the company to sell books was to use glowing reviews of the book in their advertising. For example, Dodd, Mead & Company place an ad in Publisher's Weekly with four rave reviews for Beverly of Graustark in a row. One reviewer gushed, "Mr. McCutcheon has written a powerful romance one that will hold the interest of even the most base reader rigidly fixed until the last chapter has been eagerly, feverishly read. Those who neglect this opportunity to know Beverly are unconsciously depriving themselves of several hours of the keenest delight that can be imaged." The idea behind this type of advertisement was to create an environment of excitement and a feeling that one must run out to grab this absorbing and wonderful book before all the copies are sold. The combination of the McCutcheon name and the exciting advertising seemed to do the trick as Beverly of Graustark also became a best seller. American National Biography. Ed. Garraty & Carnes, v.15: New York, Oxford University Press, 1999. Knight, Grant C. The Strenuous Age in American Literature. North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 1954. Lazarus, A.L. "George Barr McCutcheon: Youth & Drama." Biography, Summer, 1981, 208. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. V.XIV: New York, James T. White & Company, 1910. The New York Times. Oct. 24, 1928. 1. McCutcheon, George Barr. "Christmas in Graustark." The Bookman, 60:4. Dec. 1924, 404. Tebbel, John. The History of the Book Publishing in the United States, v. I, II & III. New York & London: R.R. Bowker, 1975. Tebbel, John. Under the Covers: the Rise & Transformation of American Book Publishing. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. Personal Glimpses "Buying a Ticket to Graustark." The Literary Digest. Nov 17, 1928. 51. Advertisements: The Bookman P799 Dec 1901 P801 Dec 1901 The Publisher's Weekly P798, Mar. 16, 1901. P915, Mar. 30, 1901. P1353 Jun 1, 1901. P376 & 1545 Sept. 7, 1901. P740, Oct 5, 1901. P950, Oct. 22, 1901. P843, Oct 8, 1904. P1053 Nov 5, 1904. P142, Nov 12, 1904. P1186, Nov 19, 1904. P1495, Dec 3, 1904. P1634, Dec. 17, 1904. Websites: University of Virginia English Department www.engl.virginia.edu:8080/courses/entc312/s99/best00.html | ||
| Supplementary Materials | ||
| George Barr McCutcheon | S1img19990503202000.jpg | |
| The beautiful Beverly of Graustark | S2img19990503202000.jpg | |
| Beverly of Graustark ad appearing in Publisher's Weekly | S3img19990503202000.jpg | |
| Graustark ad appearing in Publisher's Weekly | S4img19990503202000.jpg | |
| Another romantic novel ad in Pubisher's Weekly | S5img19990503202000.jpg | |
Bestsellers
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
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