D EAR R EADER :-

What is the "Unpardonable Sin" in all Nature? What one thing most inevitably brings its own punishment? What most surely extinction?

Still!

The Gigantosaurus, that was over a hundred feet long and as big as a house; the Tyrannosaurus, that had the strength of a locomotive and was the last word in frightfulness; the Pterodac- tyl or Flying Dragon-all the giant monsters of Prehistoric Ages-are gone. They did not know how to meet the changing conditions. They stood still while the life around them passed them by.

Egypt and Persia, Greece and Rome, all the great Empires of antiquity, perished when they ceased to grow. China built a wall about herself and stood still for 1,000 years. Today she is the football of the powers. In all Nature, to cease to grow is to perish.

100,000,000 Years in One

It was for men and women who are not ready to stand still, who refused to cease to grow, that Wells set to work on his almost incredible task-to put into one fascinating work all the years of life and growth that this planet has known. -To place in your hands the orderly knowledge that men go to

College four years to get-and often come away without.

-Not only the History of the world, but the Science of the world. The Philosophy of the world. The outstanding Liter- ature of the world-a vast panorama unrolled before your eyes by the most graphic word-painter of modern times.

And all so interestingly, so absorbingly done that, as the New York puts it-"It is among the most exciting books ever written." That is what you get

H. G. Wells' "Outline of History" And that isn't all.

Just glance over the enclosed folder and think for one moment of the absorbing, fascinating story goes with

in the highest sense, entertainment in the most educational sense.

People who have read this new four-volume, finally revised edi- tion of the "Outline" are saying that it has done more for them than a College education. A college education costs you prob- ably $5,000 and four years of your life. Wells' wonderful work

sent to you on approval and you will read the four books as as quickly, as so many novels.

Four Volumes for Less than the Price of the First TWO!

Although the History has been revised and enlarged; was printed from brand new with a hundred new page pictures in addition to the two hundred in the discarded edition; and although it is now bound in four usable, library

volumes instead of the original bulky ones, we can, through arrangement,

to you and a few other customers this famous

Historyw for less than the original two-volume edi- tion would cost you even now in any book store!

What is more, you can SEE it, EXAMINE it, PORE OVER IT in own home for a week at our expense. Your name on the en- closed card brings the four volumes to you, postpaid, for a full week's FREE examination.

And the Magazine, too

What the "Outline" is to past history, the Blank Magazine is to current events. It interprets men and movements in terms that every alert American can understand and profit by. gives you the boiled-down sap of world events, equips you with a

background of facts against which to read your daily news. While This One Edition Lasts!

The low price we are offering on this great History is possible only because the original publishers contracted for 100,000 sets at once.

Perhaps you think that leaves plenty of time for you to get your copy?

With any ordinary book that would be so, but not with Wells. They sold 90,000 copies of his one-volume edition in little over three months, and already nine-tenths of their 100,000

volume sets are gone. The remainder won't last long.

At most, we can get only a few thousand sets, to offer among

our 258,000 customers. Can you imagine how long those few thousand will last?

Will you look over this set now-while you can get the four volumes, revised and beautifully illustrated, a t a third less than the original two-volume set would cost you even now in the bookstores-while you can have them sent to you postpaid, without expense, for a week's FREE examination, to be returned

if for any reason you decide not to keep them?

The

enclosed card is your answer. Use while there is yet time! Yours then,

That ended the second year of

the

Wells sale, but it was

far from ending the sale itself. For three years

we

sold until our total sales topped the

360,000

mark!

The

last

LAST CHANCE AT 25%

OFF!

One of those discoveries which makes history such startling and interesting reading has just come to light through the de- ciphering of a stone tablet found on the Sinai Peninsula. Scientists have often cast doubt upon the Scriptural story of the finding of Moses. But this inscription tends to confirm the account just as we find it in the Bible. Written or dictated by Moses, and translated by Prof. of the University

Muenster, it reads:

" I , Manasse, chief and head priest of Temple, thank Hiacheput for having drawn me out of the Nile and helped me t o attain high distinction."

Taken alone, this might not be regarded as conclusive proof of the truth of the Biblical record. But it is just one link of a

chain that every day is growing stronger. Remember, in "Samuel," how the Philistines killed Saul and hung his armor in the "House of Ashtaroth"? And how, in revenge for his death, King David 20 years later put the fortress of Beth-Shan, where Saul's body had hung, to the torch? The Temple of Ashtaroth and the flame-scorched walls of Beth-Shan, have just been unearthed by excavators working under the direction of the University of Pennsylvania, and the records there inscribed confirm much of the Biblical story.

Another Dr. Ditleff Nielsen, comes forward with finds in the Arabian Desert, which tend to show that the Queen Sheba was no myth. Whether she herself existed or not, there was such a kingdom-a rich and a vast king- dom-2000 years before Christ.

a tablet of u p from the ruins of ancient

found a n inscription detailing in almost language Scriptural account of the While

Babel, its ruins are still standing!

Discoveries like which are daily coming to light,

that there is real conflict between religion and science. may differ, but to the broadminded student to the student of the there is a

common meeting ground, and nowhere is it better brought out than in-

H. G. Wells' "Outline of

Wells gives you the one interesting, connected story of the world. It is no mere history in the old, dull sense. Not a mere ac- count of the rise of this nation and the fall of that. I t is the history of mankind.

No one but Wells could make so fascinating the story of Man's Progress upon earth. No one else could give so vivid a synopsis

all that is worth knowing in history.

Just glance over the enclosed folder and think for one moment of the absorbing, fascinating story that goes with it--education in the highest sense, entertainment in the most educational sense.

People who have read this new four-volume, finally revised edi- tion of the "Outline" are saying that it has done more for them than a College education. A College education costs you prob- ably $5,000 and four years of your life. Wells' wonderful work is to you on approval and you will read the four books as absorbedly, as as so many novels.

Four Volumes for Less than the Price of the First Two!

Although the History has been revised and enlarged; although it was jointed from brand new plates, with a hundred new full- page pictures in addition to the two hundred in the discarded edition; and although it is now bound in four usable, library size volumes instead of the original bulky ones, we can, while the edition lasts,

Send to you and a few others, this famous"Outline of History" for 25% less the two-volume edition would cost you even now inany book store!

What is more, you can SEE it, EXAMINE it, PORE OVER it in your own home for a week at our Your name on the en- closed card brings the four volumes to you postpaid, for a full week'sFREE examination.

And the Blank Magazine, too

What the "Outline" is to past history, the Blank Magazine is to current events. It interprets men and movements in terms

that every alert American can understand and profit by. _It gives you the boiled-down sap of world events, equips you with a background of facts against which to read your daily news.

While this Edition Lasts!

The low price we have been making on Wells' "Outline of His- tory" was made possible only because we contracted for

sets at once.

all those 100,000 sets, only a few are now left. We can't hope to ever bring out an edition like that again. _{We can't} expect to ever be able to manufacture and sell on so small a margin. When the few remaining sets are gone, your last chance at those low-cost volumes will go with them.

So don't file this away to over. There's to puzzle about, because you don't have to send one penny or pronzise anything, other than that if you don't find these four volumes, as the New York Evening Post puts it, "one of indispensable books,"-why, just send thent back, and that ends the matter.

That's easy-isn't it?

be holding one set for you for a days. _{But you'll have} to the enclosed card right away!

Yours then,

With the foregoing letter we enclosed a circular, picturing

the "Clock of Time" under the headline, "Man has Lived

Less Than Four Seconds!" The copy following it read:

Take a hour on the clock. Let it represent the whole of time since the beginning of the world-for world time is only an hour, beside the endless aeons that passed before the earth whirled in flames from the sun.

Now long-on the scale of that hour-has the human race lived? Counting even our earliest apeman ancestors-Man lived

than four seconds!

The pyramids were built about a fifth of a second ago. _Christ was born a tenth of a second ago.

The American Revolution was fought a hundred and thirtieth a second ago.

see what a fragment of time the ordinary history covers. What hap_pened in the great aeons before? What happened in

the "hot youth of the world"? Is it all unknown-is every- thing hidden in mystery as it was a few years ago? No. The Romance of History-the great thrilling life of the world is given you in the pages of

H. G. WELLS'

"Outline of History" The Finally Revised Edition

A History that goes back millions of years-that follows man

down through his Caveman and Stone Age struggles to the I Babylon of Daniel's day, the Egypt of the Pharaohs, the Asia

of Tamerlane, the France of the Paladins, the England of today

t h e America of tomorrow.

I

Only Wells could make so fascinating the story of man's progress upon earth; only he could give us so vivid a synopsis of all that is worth knowing in human history. The light that flashes in his pages is not merely the of the mind that is Wells'. Rather it is the light we call humanity which is all minds fused.

This is no mere history in the old, dull sense. It is the whole drama of human experience-a great thrilling trip down the ages with Prophets and Conquerors and Kings.

The interesting thing about Wells is that he gives you such a _I wonderful background for your daily news.

He unifies the past. reveals that thread of human progress which has forever bound man to man the world and from one age to another.

a

The other pages described the upward climb of man, named

thesix greatest figures in history, and showed that there is but

one common past, one common interest, and one common cause for all mankind.

That ended the biggest sale of any one set of books that this particular publisher ever had. We were proud of it, for there was nothing in any previous campaign to give

an indication

of

what appeal would go best, and as it hap-

pened, our most effective appeals in this case were entirely different from anything we had ever tried before.

I

I

I

Of course, this campaign really followed the rules out- lined in the early chapters of this book, for people are always interested in things prehistoric; so when we started our cir- cular or letter with a reference to something of the kind, we

were tying right in with that interest. This was well illus-

trated by the last two letters, the one referring to the prehis- toric fossils and dinosaur eggs, and the other to the unearthing

of the stone tablet of Moses. Even after

250,000

sets had

been sold, those two letters were still able to stir u p interest add another hundred thousand sales to the record. The point would seem to be that if you can tie in with

what are thinking about and interested in, you can

sell anything. And the particular form that your letter takes

is far less important than the chord it happens to strike.

We

shall touch upon this later with regard to letters selling other products.

The big sale of Wells naturally brought us a lot of good

publicity. To me, that meant a chance to try a new field-

selling, not books, but wearing apparel and men's furnishings of various kinds.

Some fifteen years previously, John Blair of Warren,

Pa.,

had started what is now the New Process Company; he began

with of borrowed capital and an idea. The idea came

from having worked his way home from college

by

selling

raincoats.

In document The Robert Collier Letter Book (Page 164-171)