The Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History at Duke University holds an extensive collection of more than 3 million items that document the history of sales, advertising and marketing throughout the past two centuries. From that massive archive comes the digital collection Medicine and Madison Avenue. A gathering of close to 600 advertising items and publications illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States. Enjoy this sampling of familiar products, and who knew one could "Minimize the After-Effects of Tobacco" with Phillips Milk of Magnesia. ...
Poets inspired by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is the subject of a new anthology of poems edited by two retired professors from his home state of Minnesota. Whittled down to 100 poems from a pool of 500 Visiting Bob: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Bob Dylan is a collection honoring Dylan by poets in various stages of their careers. Contributors include Robert Bly; Charles Bukowski; Lawrence Ferlinghetti; Patti Smith and Anne Waldman as well as this lost musing from Johnny Cash that appeared in the liner notes for Dylan’s 1969 album “Nashville Skyline,” and won a Best Album Notes Grammy: Complete unto itself, full,...
Bookseller Revolt: Independents Vacate Abebooks in Solidarity
Banned Booksellers Week has begun with a bang. David Streitfeld's piece in the New York Times has kicked off what some hope will be a defining moment in the history of online bookselling. For the week of November 5 to 11, 2018, booksellers around the world will remove their inventory from Abebooks, an Amazon company, in a show of support for their brethren in South Korea, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Russia who were told they can no longer sell on their platform. Many were angered at the flippant response provided by Abebooks as to why the booksellers were removed claiming...
Time to Pick the Oddest Book Title of the Year
It's time for the annual Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. First conceived at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1978 in order to "stave off boredom". The inaugural prize was awarded to Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice (University of Tokyo Press). Other notable winners include: How to Avoid Huge Ships (1992), Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers (1996), Managing a Dental Practice: The Genghis Khan Way (2010) and Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop (2012). Last year’s winner was The Commuter Pig Keeper. Here are your 2018 finalists: Joy of Water Boiling, by Christina Scheffenacker Jesus on Gardening, by David Muskett Are Gay Men More...
Zoë Kravitz for the Library
The American Library Association has released it latest Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for its ilovelibraries initiative. The new READ® poster and video features Zoë Kravitz and combines Kravitz's library love with the upcoming film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in which she stars. The poster features Kravitz in her character Leta Lestrange and the video is part film trailer and part Kravitz sharing her thoughts on the magic of books.