Cather Studies, Volume 7: Willa Cather as Cultural Icon

Advertising Cather during the Transition Years (1914–1922)

13 Advertising Cather during the Transition Years (1914–1922) E R I K A H A M I L T O N On 12 January 1921, Willa Cather wrote to Ferris Greenslet, her editor at Houghton Mifflin, to report that “Claude,” later to become One of Ours, would be published by Alfred Knopf. Although she had voiced numerous complaints about Houghton Mifflin’s handling of My Ántonia, she claimed that her main reason for switching to Knopf was advertising.1 She had been studying Knopf’s advertisements, including his successful publicity for Youth and the Bright Medusa, and concluded that his endorsements were more spirited, sincere, and enthusiastic than Houghton Mifflin’s. She refused at first to commit to a permanent break from Houghton Mifflin—she wanted the option of offering them future novels for publication—but she firmly believed Knopf would do the best publicity work for “Claude.” Differences in advertising strategies are evident in issues of the New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly, and the New Republic from 1914 through 1922. If Cather perused issues of the New Republic, as she likely did, she would have seen differences between Houghton Mifflin’s book lists and Alfred Knopf’s signed letters.2 Houghton Mifflin’s full-page advertisements often listed and briefly described ten to thirty books, sometimes including excerpts from positive reviews. The company’s few exceptions to this strategy included a December 1914 full-page advertisement devoted to Emerson’s journals and a July 1921 back-cover quarter-page for an Amy Lowell novel. Houghton Mifflin occasionally promoted poetry collections and Lowell’s 14 e r i k a h a m i lto n fiction in the New Republic, but its advertisements focused primarily on nonfiction, such as biographies and histories, to reflect the periodical’s attention to domestic and international affairs. Alfred Knopf also placed book lists in the New Republic, but his offered more enthusiasm and substance. Within a short description of a book, either nonfiction or fiction, Knopf included a mixture of subject and plot synopses, excerpts from reviews, and his own recommendations. Adolph Kroch recalls in his essay “To Alfred Knopf from a Bookseller” that Knopf’s lists were “not sales talks, but literary dissertations and elucidations of a publishing program that was clear, incisive, uncompromising” (41). Some Knopf advertisements did not look like lists at all, but like personal letters to a friend complete with paragraphs and his signature in script. In these, Knopf marketed himself as a publisher who was more concerned with literary quality than market demand. Houghton Mifflin anticipated Knopf’s letter-style technique in a 3 October 1915, quarter-page advertisement for The Song of the Lark in the New York Times Book Review. Unlike Knopf’s, Houghton Mifflin’s “letter” does not end with a personal signature in script. It also fails to announce the book’s title in large, bold type. To discover what the advertisement promotes, one must read through its first four lines. Readers who scan the page for bold titles and headlines may miss it altogether. The first lines are elegantly formal: “Messrs. Houghton Mifflin Company take pleasure in announcing a new and impotant [sic] novel.” This is not a personal, enthusiastic announcement, like when a friend rushes to the table, pushes a book forward, and gushes, “You’ve got to read this! It is so good!” Instead, the advertisement reads like a black-tie event where guests stand and politely applaud as the book is escorted to the stage for a prepared introduction—an impressive formality quickly forgotten when the book is mistakenly called impotent by the host rather than important. Cather scorned this black-tie event when she expressed dissatisfaction with Houghton Mifflin’s formal introductions of her books (Cather to Greenslet, 19 May 1919). Cather wanted advertisements to exude sincere enthusiasm and excitement (Cather to Scaife, 30 October 1915). Instead, 15 Advertising Cather during the Transition Years the announcement for The Song of the Lark exudes detachment. It classifies the novel as a “study” and “panorama,” terms that sound heavy and academic. Except for the word “glorious” in the first paragraph, the synopsis reads like a vague book report. The second paragraph indicates that Cather handles her theme “in a big way” but does not explain what that means. Does...