"You're taking an awful chance letting a child run a hundred-thousand-dollar project."
So said J. David Stern, owner of The New York Post, speaking in 1935 to his business manager, Jake Omansky, who had been the circulation expert for The Stars & Stripes newspaper during World War I.
The hundred-thousand dollar project was a circulation promotion offer for the Post, and the "child" was John Alun Stevenson. Stevenson had just arrived in the U.S. from England, by way of Sydney and Los Angeles. He was nineteen.
"almost a Gift!"
The offer was an old, out-of-date edition of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, the plates of which Omansky had found in a junk yard. Young Stevenson was hired to lure new subscribers with the book, using the selling techniques he had learned back in London while working for the Odhams Press, which owned the London Daily Herald, the Labour Party newspaper which was edited by Stevenson's father, William Henry. W.H., as he was known, was a coal miner-turned-journalist, and one-time press officer for Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald.
"The unabridged dictionary was a tremendous success," remembered Stern in his memoir. "Jake and John went on from that great start to distribute millions of books" for the Post.
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| John Stevenson's ad for The Complete Works of Charles Dickens, published by the New York Post in 1936. Twenty volumes (four per month for five months) for only 93 cents plus 24 coupons clipped from the Post. |
"The Bloodthirsty Herald."
In 1919, the Daily Herald produced one of the most famous posters in British advertising history (McKnight Kauffer's "Birds in Flight"—probably the first time that a cubist painting had been used to sell something), but the paper's claim to marketing fame really began in 1929, when majority ownership was taken over by the promotion-savvy Odhams Press, which employed a fellow named Harold Grigsby, "who knew more about mail order than anyone in England," according to his protégé, John Stevenson.
With Odhams providing the capital, W.H. Stevenson providing the Labourite party line, and Harold Grigsby and teenager John Stevenson providing the salesmanship, the working class Daily Herald launched an all-out effort to capture middle class readers. And it worked.
Employing "tricks of circulation come-ons such as lotteries, crossword puzzle contests with cash prizes," the circulation "jumped from 350,000 to over a million" in a single year, Time magazine reported. "The bloodthirsty Herald...offered readers a complete set of Dickens for eleven shillings plus coupons from the Herald" (a promotion that John Stevenson replicated immediately upon joining the New York Post).
A circulation war among the London dailies ensued, each paper trying to out-do the others' premium offers. "Washing machines came next. Then sets of china, electric irons, cricket bats & balls, cameras. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, sets of modern classics. Fountain pens, fancy pencils, stockings, underwear, wrist watches, pillow cases, pyjamas." In the end, the Daily Herald could claim the largest circulation of any newspaper in the world, with daily sales of over 2 million copies.
In 1919, the Daily Herald produced one of the most famous posters in British advertising history (McKnight Kauffer's "Birds in Flight"—probably the first time that a cubist painting had been used to sell something), but the paper's claim to marketing fame really began in 1929, when majority ownership was taken over by the promotion-savvy Odhams Press, which employed a fellow named Harold Grigsby, "who knew more about mail order than anyone in England," according to his protégé, John Stevenson.
With Odhams providing the capital, W.H. Stevenson providing the Labourite party line, and Harold Grigsby and teenager John Stevenson providing the salesmanship, the working class Daily Herald launched an all-out effort to capture middle class readers. And it worked.
Employing "tricks of circulation come-ons such as lotteries, crossword puzzle contests with cash prizes," the circulation "jumped from 350,000 to over a million" in a single year, Time magazine reported. "The bloodthirsty Herald...offered readers a complete set of Dickens for eleven shillings plus coupons from the Herald" (a promotion that John Stevenson replicated immediately upon joining the New York Post).
A circulation war among the London dailies ensued, each paper trying to out-do the others' premium offers. "Washing machines came next. Then sets of china, electric irons, cricket bats & balls, cameras. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, sets of modern classics. Fountain pens, fancy pencils, stockings, underwear, wrist watches, pillow cases, pyjamas." In the end, the Daily Herald could claim the largest circulation of any newspaper in the world, with daily sales of over 2 million copies.
"The grand nabob of the entire Doubleday book club operation."
In 1938, about a week after John Stevenson left the New York Post, he and Jake Omansky were riding horseback through Central Park, when suddenly 44-year-old Jake had a heart attack and died on the spot.
Soon thereafter, John teamed up with a Post copywriter, Fred Breismeister, and began running circulation-building promotions on his own. After that, Fred went to work for John Crawley, who had taken over the bankrupt William H. Wise publishing concern and turned it into a how-to mail-order machine.
Meanwhile, Stevenson became promotion manager for Doubleday, where he learned everything there was to know about book clubs from Milo Sutliff -- "the greatest mail-order mind of anyone I've ever met in my life," he recalled decades later. Milo was "the grand nabob of the entire Doubleday Book Club operation," in the words of his buddy, Random House founder Bennett Cerf.
In 1938, about a week after John Stevenson left the New York Post, he and Jake Omansky were riding horseback through Central Park, when suddenly 44-year-old Jake had a heart attack and died on the spot.
Soon thereafter, John teamed up with a Post copywriter, Fred Breismeister, and began running circulation-building promotions on his own. After that, Fred went to work for John Crawley, who had taken over the bankrupt William H. Wise publishing concern and turned it into a how-to mail-order machine.
Meanwhile, Stevenson became promotion manager for Doubleday, where he learned everything there was to know about book clubs from Milo Sutliff -- "the greatest mail-order mind of anyone I've ever met in my life," he recalled decades later. Milo was "the grand nabob of the entire Doubleday Book Club operation," in the words of his buddy, Random House founder Bennett Cerf.
"The man who cornered the ermine tail market."
On the side, Stevenson began selling books under the name Book Presentations. He wrote his own copy, and signed his direct mail letters as "John Allen." His first title was Doubleday's Complete Book of Sewing, which he sold as a Book Presentations imprint with great success.
For awhile he promoted the sewing book using ermine tails as a premium offer, which amused some of his fellow publishers. Albert Leventhal, Vice President of Simon & Schuster, once playfully referred to Stevenson as "the man who cornered the ermine tail market."
He also got mail-order rights to Doubleday's famous Modern Home Medical Adviser, by Dr. Morris Fishbein, described by Time magazine as "the nation's most ubiquitous, most widely maligned, and perhaps most influential medico."
On the side, Stevenson began selling books under the name Book Presentations. He wrote his own copy, and signed his direct mail letters as "John Allen." His first title was Doubleday's Complete Book of Sewing, which he sold as a Book Presentations imprint with great success.
For awhile he promoted the sewing book using ermine tails as a premium offer, which amused some of his fellow publishers. Albert Leventhal, Vice President of Simon & Schuster, once playfully referred to Stevenson as "the man who cornered the ermine tail market."
He also got mail-order rights to Doubleday's famous Modern Home Medical Adviser, by Dr. Morris Fishbein, described by Time magazine as "the nation's most ubiquitous, most widely maligned, and perhaps most influential medico."
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| "The accentuated roar of the presses at Doubleday's Garden City plant means only one thing to initiates: a new tome by the irrepressible Dr. Morris Fishbein is in the works." —Bennett Cerf |
When he wasn't busy writing bestsellers, Dr. Fishbein edited the American Medical Association's journal, where he made his name exposing medical quackery. Since the U.S. entrance into WWII following Pearl Harbor, Doubleday had been plugging Fishbein's book by playing on fears of a doctor shortage, noting that "25,000 doctors are now in uniform," making the Modern Home Medical Adviser ever more important. In a Book Presentations sales letter (pictured below), "John Allen" warned his prospects that "Since writing this letter I have just had word from Dr. Fishbein that 40,000 Doctors are now in uniform. With still more to go!" The "amazing full-color X-Ray Humanoscope" was free to keep, of course.
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"I have a trade name, such as Betty Crocker, which is a trade name for General Mills, or Priscilla, which is a Hearst name, and mine is John Allen, which is used instead of Alun, because Alun, being a Welsh name, is rather unfamiliar to the American public." —John Stevenson, 1945
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Over at William H. Wise, John Crawley and Fred Breismeister responded with a massive tome called The Modern Home Physician. But instead of a Humanoscope, their premium offer was a set of two anatomically-correct (and rather creepy) manikins.
The Greystone Press and The Fiction Book Club
In 1943, Stevenson purchased the bankrupt Greystone Press -- not for its backlist, but rather for its wartime quota of paper, which he used to publish several more Book Presentations imprints before joining the United States Strategic Bombing Survey in Germany in 1945.
In 1943, Stevenson purchased the bankrupt Greystone Press -- not for its backlist, but rather for its wartime quota of paper, which he used to publish several more Book Presentations imprints before joining the United States Strategic Bombing Survey in Germany in 1945.
After returning from the war, Stevenson remained with Doubleday until 1946, and then went into competition against Doubleday's Dollar Book Club with his own Fiction Book Club, which quickly became among the biggest clubs in the business thanks to puzzle contests and other promotional novelties.
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| "We did rebus puzzles. It would require no skill. A rebus is a picture arithmetic; like 'Cat plus rat minus hat equals...' But other publishers thought it was an undignified way of selling books." —John Stevenson, 1992 |
The Fiction Book Club focused on romance novels, and when not promoting them with contests, it successfully employed so-called "plunging neckline" ads with such tempting copy as...
The Greystone Corporation
By 1948, Stevenson was doing so well that Milo Sutliff abandoned Doubleday and joined his former employee as a co-owner of a new Greystone Corporation, under which they operated the Fiction Book Club, while stepping up the publishing of single-volume how-to and reference books as Greystone Press / Book Presentations.
Milo succinctly summarized the catalog as: "Books on how to knit, sew, crochet, and cook for the women, and how to hunt, fish, and take care of dogs and other things for men." (Most of the women's books were edited by John's wife, Isabelle, who went on to preside over the American Theatre Wing for many decades.)
As John later observed, "It became almost commonplace to sell through The American Weekly $100,000 worth of Sewing or Crochet or Decorating books on any given Sunday."
Greystone advertised even in pulp fiction paperbacks.
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| Two of three Greystone ads in a Pocket Books paperback. |
Sri Aurobindo?
One of the most unlikely Greystone single-volumes was The Life Divine, an anthology of writings by Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo. Published in 1949, perhaps this book was considered timely because India was newly independent from Britain, but it probably would have sold better two decades later, after the Beatles hooked up with the Maharishi and made Eastern philosophy instantly cool. But how many Americans were into Eastern philosophy in 1949?
"Bloody Mary a La Milo"
Greystone's most collectible single volume is Bottoms Up!, a collection of bartending recipes assembled by Ted Saucier, the public relations liaison at the Waldorf Astoria.
One of the recipes was named after Milo Sutliff. Here's the recipe for "Bloody Mary á La Milo":
2 oz. tomato juice
1 oz. clam juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 oz vodka
Juice 1/2 lemon
Cracked Ice
Stir tomato juice and clam juice together, and add Worcestershire. Pour this mixture over on inch of cracked ice in a blender or mixer. Add Vodka. Turn switch and agitate for 10 seconds. Serve in 3-oz. glass.
Heavily decorated with risqué cheesecake drawings by prominent artists, Bottoms Up! is typically priced at $100 or more on eBay.
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| A page from the appropriately-titled Bottoms Up! |
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A snapshot I found on eBay of some guy in New Jersey, circa early 1950s,
who has just been given a copy of Bottoms Up! as a birthday gift.
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The American Everyday Cookbook, which was published by Random House in 1955, was also published as the Greystone Everyday Cookbook. Presumably, Greystone had mail-order rights only. It is one of the few times the Greystone name was used in a title. The author is Agnes Murphy, Food Editor of The New York Post.
More Greystone Clubs and Series
In 1949, Milo and John launched the International Book Society in collaboration with Viking Press, using titles from the Viking Portable Library exclusively. Henry Goldsmith, a literate gent who had recently joined the Greystone team as office manager, was officially the president of the new club. But it does not seem to have lasted very long.
In 1949, Milo and John launched the International Book Society in collaboration with Viking Press, using titles from the Viking Portable Library exclusively. Henry Goldsmith, a literate gent who had recently joined the Greystone team as office manager, was officially the president of the new club. But it does not seem to have lasted very long.
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| Henry Goldsmith, early 1950s. |
Greystone also put out a series of classic literature, which was sold as the Masterworks Library. These volumes were reprints of old Doubleday titles, which were themselves reprints of even older reprints.
Meanwhile, they ran rebus puzzle contests for the Disabled American Veterans, as per the two-page Life magazine spread below.
In 1953, they started a continuity series called Art Treasures of the World. Each month, subscribers received a portfolio of art prints, accompanied by an art-appreciation lesson. Most of the prints were licensed from the art book publisher Harry Abrams.
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| Shipping box used to mail Art Treasures of the World portfolios. Designed by Ismar David. |
Record Clubs
The "Stevenson/Sutliff Combine," as Billboard magazine called it, launched the first of its many record clubs in 1950 with the Children's Record Guild, followed by the American Recording Society (1951), Music Treasures of the World (1954), Living Language records (1956), a Jazz club (1956), and the Shakespeare Recording Society (1962). The details are told in my book Revolutionizing Children's Records.
The "Stevenson/Sutliff Combine," as Billboard magazine called it, launched the first of its many record clubs in 1950 with the Children's Record Guild, followed by the American Recording Society (1951), Music Treasures of the World (1954), Living Language records (1956), a Jazz club (1956), and the Shakespeare Recording Society (1962). The details are told in my book Revolutionizing Children's Records.
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| John Stevenson (far right) with the Brotherhood of Associated Book Travelers (1954). |
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| John Stevenson (left) and Max Sackheim (right), with moderator Arthur Martin Karl (a list broker, center) at a mail-order clinic held at the New York Advertising Club, October 1953. |
In 1954, Fred Breismeister left Wise and became copy chief at Greystone, revising existing ads and mailings, and creating new ones like the following 1957 Life magazine ad for Greystone's "Made Simple" library, a ship-till-forbid series that defined the continuity proposition that Time-Life and and countless others would soon employ for years to come.
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It seems as if this ad is handing the book to the reader directly through the frame. This was a signature Breismeister design element.
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In 1956, Sutliff and Stevenson signed a unique deal with Hawthorn books -- a Prentice-Hall subsidiary run by the venerable book packager Kenneth Giniger -- giving Hawthorn trade rights to the entire Greystone Press catalog, much of which was subsequently published under the Greystone-Hawthorn imprint.
In 1957, Sutliff retired, selling his share of Greystone to Stevenson. And later that year when Capitol Records decided to launch its own record club, Stevenson was hired to run it.
In 1960, while still head of the Capitol Record Club, Stevenson launched the modern era of continuity marketing with a two-million-word gardening encyclopedia.
The Encyclopedia Continuity Series
New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening, Unabridged (1960). 20 volumes.
This is the one that really started the continuity series craze. In 1952, Greystone commissioned T.H. Everett to "completely revise and adapt" an existing book titled The Popular Encyclopedia of Gardening. The result was the 14-volume New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening, which was finally published in 1960.
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| All the encyclopedia series came with these brown wrappers. |
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Illustrated Encyclopedia of Animal Life (1961). 19 Volumes.
The 16 original volumes were an expansion of Greystone's 3-volume Animal Kingdom (1954), and included Greystone's Exploring Nature With Your Child (1952) as an appendix spread across all volumes. The additional 3 volumes were derived from Greystone's Nature Lover's Treasury (1947).
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| There's that "Breismeister hand" again, commanding you to take the free book. |
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Greystone provided customized promotional materials for retailers to mail to their own customer list. In this case, a brochure customized for Portrait Photo.
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Illustrated Library of the World and Its Peoples (1963-67). 42 volumes.
"Made possible through the co-operation of the Greystone Press in the United States and the Istituto Geografico de Agostini in Italy..."
"Made possible through the co-operation of the Greystone Press in the United States and the Istituto Geografico de Agostini in Italy..."
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The Encyclopedia of Photography (1963). 20 volumes.
This series was compiled and updated from an old magazine series called "The Popular Photographer," issued in the 1940s by John Crawley. Years later, when short on cash, Crawley sold the rights to Stevenson.
This series was compiled and updated from an old magazine series called "The Popular Photographer," issued in the 1940s by John Crawley. Years later, when short on cash, Crawley sold the rights to Stevenson.
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Practical Handyman' Encyclopedia (1965). 22 volumes.
The following blurb, purloined from editor Larry Eisinger's website, pretty much explains it.
(Click to enlarge.)
Ads for the Practical Handyman's Encyclopedia employed a tricky headline -- "$99,500 GIVEAWAY" -- which made it seem like a sweepstakes offer. But the $99,500 was simply the estimated value of all the copies of Volume 1 which were given away to everybody who sent in the bound-in "claim check" (pictured below). So "your share" of the $99,500 was merely getting Volume 1 for free.
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Art of the World Library (1966).
Licensed from Crown Publishing, Greystone began selling this as a continuity series beginning in 1966.
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New International Illustrated Encyclopedia of Art (1967). 22 volumes.
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Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement (1970)- 18 volumes.
Licensed from Meredith Corporation, and compiled from that company's various magazines. Today, this set is a favorite of interior decorators and set designers.
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New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening, Unabridged (1972, New and Revised Edition). 24 volumes.
How the revised Encyclopedia of Gardening was expanded from 14 volumes to 24 volumes is kind of interesting. Most of the additional material was written by a young staff writer named Lois Geller, who did not know anything about gardening. But fortunately the encyclopedia's original author, T.H. Everett, was still alive, so he was able to help her with the technical details.
Awhile back, when I was getting rid of some old World Book Yearbooks, I was surprised to find inside the 1973 edition a huge (22"x 33") circular for Greystone's revised gardening encyclopedia.
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Discovering Antiques: The Story of World Antiques (1973). 20 volumes.
Licensed from the British Publishing Corporation, contents previously published as a magazine continuity series.
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Man & Woman: The Encyclopedia of Adult Relationships. 24 Volumes.
Capitalizing on the sexual liberation of the 1970s (and the resulting change in profanity laws) this set was promoted as "a frank and sensitive work that deals with the complex and fascinating world of sex -- and with hundreds of other important adult relationships."
Above: The insert card for the Man & Woman ad that ran in Playboy magazine. (The ad was run under Playboy's direct marketing arm, College Marketing and Research Corporation.)
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Greystone's Creative Hands (1975). 22 Volumes.
Compiled from issues of Golden Hands magazine. Copyright is credited to Fratelli Fabri Editore and Marshall Cavendish.
The Greystone Encyclopedia of Crafts (1975).
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The New Practical Handyman's Encyclopedia (1975).
Stevenson published this updated version of the 1965 series under his own name.
_____________________
David Bonner
newbonner@gmail.com
