Casanova Was A Book Lover: And Other Naked Truths and Provocative Curiosities about the Writing, Selling, and Reading of Books PDF
Preview Casanova Was A Book Lover: And Other Naked Truths and Provocative Curiosities about the Writing, Selling, and Reading of Books
Casanova Was a Book Lover Other books by John Maxwell Hamilton Main Street America and the Third World Edgar Snow: A Biography Entangling Alliances: How the Third World Shapes Our Lives Hold the Press: The Inside Story on Newspapers (coauthor George Krimsky) Casanova Was a Book Lover And Other Naked Truths and Provocative Curiosities about the Writing, Selling, and Reading of Books John Maxwell Hamilton LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS BATON ROUGE MM Copyright © 2000 by Louisiana State University Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 5 4 32 Designer: Laura Roubique Gleason Typeface: Adobe Caslon Typesetter: Crane Composition, Inc. Printer and binder: Thomson-Shore, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Hamilton, John Maxwell. Casanova was a book lover: and other naked truths and curiosities about the writing, selling, and reading of books /John Maxwell Hamilton. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8071-2554-7 (alk. paper) 1. Books and reading. 2. Books and reading—United States. 3. Authorship. 4. Authorship—United States. 5. Publishers and publishing—United States. I. Title. Z1003.H194 2000 028'.9—dc21 99-059582 The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. ^ To Paula and Jack ... because they are such good friends and because Tm running out of family suitable for dedicating purposes. To all reviewers ,. because only ungrateful asses would pan a book after having it dedicated to them. This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments A Author's Warning Xlll An Introduction to the Proper Study of Mankind 1 ONE T. Roger Claypool's Fish Store 13 TWO The Art of Marketing 57 THREE Artless Thank-Yous 85 FOUR A Guide to Good Book Behavior 107 FIVE Inglorious Employment 127 six Literary Luck 157 SEVEN Best Stolen Books 175 viii / Contents EIGHT Dear Mr. Politician: Please Don t Write 195 NINE The Universal Library 231 APPENDIX A Book Promotion: The Business Established by the Author of Our Nature 259 APPENDIX B Self-Publishing: The American Dream 267 APPENDIX C Four Bad Mistakes about Editing Errors 273 Notes on Sources 281 Index 321 About the Author 353 Illustrations Casanova, engraving by Johann Berka 9 The Harvard portrait of Geoffrey Chaucer 17 The Chandos portrait of William Shakespeare, attributed to John Taylor 18 Engraving of the Faithorne portrait of John Milton 19 Murals, frescoes by Reginald Marsh, New York City Customs House 36 Benjamin Franklin, painting by Joseph Duplessis 59 Machiavelli, detail of an oil painting by Santi di Tito 88 e. e. cummings's dedication to No Thanks 104 Dennis Rodman at a Barnes Sc Noble bookstore 114 Portrait of George Gordon Byron 129 Oprah Winfrey with author Toni Morrison 137 Henry VIII, from the painting after Holbein 143 Ernest Hemingway sitting at a desk at his home in Cuba 171
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