Life, 1925-01-29 · page 33 of 37
Life — January 29, 1925 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a full-page advertisement for *The Golden Book*, a new literary magazine. Rather than satire or political cartooning, it's a straightforward pitch to readers. The page lists celebrated classic authors—Tolstoy, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Poe, etc.—to establish cultural prestige. The ad positions the magazine as a curated solution for busy people who want to read great literature but lack time to search for it themselves. The copy appeals to self-improvement (gaining "style" for business writing) and subtly critiques contemporary youth culture: cocktails, dance halls, and "petting parties" are dismissed as mere "defense reactions" of the age. *The Golden Book* offers a superior alternative—intellectual stimulation with lasting value. At $3.00 yearly, the ad emphasizes accessibility. The overall message: subscribe to gain cultural refinement and good taste without effort.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Thackeray Dostoievsky R. H. Davis Turgenieff Irving Lagerlof Gogol A REMINDER to keep the promise you made yourself to look up those ‘ best stories” which you have missed? Then welcome Tue Gorpen Boox—a new and delightful kind of magazine that brings to your home every month the en- during stories of these and a hundred other Whatdo these names convey to you? Kipling Tolstoy Conan Doyle de Maupassant Stevenson Mark Twain Pushkin Gautier Bayard Taylor Barrie Calderon Charles Reade Daudet George Meredith d’Annunzio Heidenstam O. Henry Ambrose Bierce Margaret Deland great writers. Bret Harte Dumas Oscar Wilde Poe Anatole France Thomas Hardy Chekhov H. C. Bunner Mérimée Heinrich Heine Fitz-James O’Brien Tarkington Away with Dull Moments! There are none in The Golden Book, for only the most interesting stories will appear in it—not those which just a few pedants have found interesting, but those that live solely because so many men and women can be thrilled by them, and be thrilled again and again. Picture the editor, Henry W. Lanier, and his staff advisers scanning all literature to find these undying stories that you and I have missed—perhaps because we are too busy to dig them out for ourselves, or because they were in foreign languages until The Golden Book had them translated. Travel on a Royal Road Subscriptions are pouring in for the new magazine, with enthusiastic letters of thanks for the wonder- ful entertainment it affords the whole family. One subscriber puts it very aptly: “I've found the royal road to a command of English! Why should I read dull books on rhetoric when I can read a magazine full of thrilling stories that at the same time helps me to gain style? Though my writings are chiefly sales letters, 1 know that style helps here as much as anywhere to win and hold the attention of the reader.” This young man may not know that the master writers whose stories he enjoys so much in THE GOLDEN BOOK got their command of language in this very manner! Good Fun in Place of Bad To substitute real entertainment of the kind found in The Golden Book is the one way to offset what has tempted young men and women in every genera- tion. Cocktails, dance halls, freak dress, petting parties are simply defense reactions of the present age. To offer the young people something just as daring, just as exciting, just as amusing—but some- thing that leaves a finely stimulated memory is the job of the editor‘of The Golden Book. Here in The Golden Book are gathered the most exciting, the most readable, the most human tales. Whatever your mood, when you pick up the maga- zine, there will always be a story to please you. Order THE GOLDEN BOOK while you are in the mood to be entertained. The subscription price is only $3.00 a year. THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS CORPORATION, 55 Fifth Avenue, NEW YORK CITY comicbooks.com