Continuity Marketing: Pleasures and Pitfalls

Virtually every promotional mailing had a big “beauty shot” in the centerfold of the circular that showed how a complete set would look on the shelf. The books-as-furniture technique was taken to new heights by the Franklin Mint which, under the direction of an elegant southern gentleman named Darby Perry, published The Franklin Library, a series of modern classics in real leather bindings with 22-karat gold leaf stamping and signed by the authors (e.g., John Updike, Herman Wouk). MBI/Danbury Mint also created signed, leatherbound books as well as the great classics. MBI also offered stamps with first-day covers as continuities.