Tales of the Road

Chicago: Thompson & Thomas. Very Good+. 1905. Second Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [solid, nice-looking copy, light wear at extremities; once part of a private (individual's) library, it bears his name and address stamp on the ffep and an additional name and property stamp on the front pastedown; there is also a small label with a number affixed to the spine, but aside from that there are no other markings]. (B&W frontispiece and 15 B&W plates) Classic account by a traveling salesman, imparting to the reader all the wisdom he's accumulated in his travels. "Salesmanship is the business of the world; it is about all there is to the world of business. Enter the door of a successful wholesale or manufacturing house and you stand upon the threshold of an establishment represented by first-class salesmen. They are the steam -- and a bit part of the engine, too -- that makes business move. I saw in print, the other day, the statement that salesmanship is the 'fourth profession.' It is not; it is the first." Terrific period illustrations, with droll captions: "To-night we dance, to-morrow we sell clothes again."; "I listened to episodes in the lives of all those seven children." .