# Gimmick Books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [November 1, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167 "2022-11-01T19:56:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2022, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/81 "2022-11-06T00:16:55Z")
Heh. That link says “The Ace Doubles binding was considered innovative, if gimmicky, at the time.” I was trying to think of a way to describe a load of unusual bindings of all different kinds and gimmick came to mind. Guess it was a good choice. The Ace Doubles series, just to nitpick, contained hundreds of non-sf titles, probably more than sf. Yet only sf collectors seem to care. Somebody must collect Ace Double mysteries or westerns, but I’ve never run across anyone who admits it. [Google images](https://www.google.com/search?q=tete+beche+book&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ALiCzsYZ4Dd4L3FtftOYAE1BI_uEJ9OKmA%3A1667693444600&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=681&ei=hPtmY6uZIfClqtsPtMa0-Ak&iflsig=AJiK0e8AAAAAY2cJlKNk4djmL6PLbnac6RlxoJ1MTWPt&oq=tete+beche&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAxgBMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgQIABAeMgQIABAeMgQIABAeMgYIABAFEB4yBggAEAUQHjIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAFEB46BAgjECc6CAgAELEDEIMBOggIABCABBCxA1AAWI8QYPcqaABwAHgAgAFiiAGOB5IBAjEwmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWc&sclient=img) shows the popularity and variety of _tête-bêche_ books. That led me to this [AmusingPlanet article](https://www.amusingplanet.com/2017/10/medieval-dos-dos-book-bindings.html) on medieval examples, which include up to five books bound that way. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/82 "2022-11-06T19:53:35Z")
Even more extreme that… Comic book writer Mark Gruenwald was cremated after his death and his ashes were mixed with the ink used to print the first printing of the trade paperback compilation of _Squadron Supreme_. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/83 "2022-11-06T20:19:45Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Baen books used to do this with a number of their books. I have several CDs with the early Honor Harrington books as well as some of David Weber’s other works. [This site](https://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/) has most of them - used to be, you could actually click on them and download individual titles, but Baen asked them to remove that functionality. The Bujold CD used to be there, but she asked them to take it down. Years back, I downloaded everything and imported it all into Calibre; I haven’t looked to see if there are any new things there. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2022, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/84 "2022-11-06T20:30:51Z")
Didn’t want to continue the hijack, but a limited version of the free library supported by Baen still exists - [https://www.baen.com/catalog/category/view/s/free-library/id/2012](https://www.baen.com/catalog/category/view/s/free-library/id/2012) Generally, you can get the first 1-2 books of a number of series as an extended teaser. Most of the books included (by no means all) in the prior CD compilations can be found here. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2022, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/85 "2022-11-06T21:56:08Z")
I can easily imagine a show in which it was known that a secret message was being sent encoded in a specific book. “The team” put massive computer code breaking resources to break the code in the text but the message was actually by way of fore edge painting ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2022, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/86 "2022-11-06T22:08:54Z")
There must be some book somewhere that incorporates “scratch lottery, scrape-a-coin” technology. Though I can’t think of any. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/87 "2022-11-06T22:15:44Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > . “The team” put massive computer code breaking resources to break the code in the text but the message was actually by way of fore edge painting A nice idea, but fore edge painting is so rare wouldn’t that be shining a giant spotlight on it? ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2022, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/88 "2022-11-06T23:20:55Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > There must be some book somewhere that incorporates “scratch lottery, scrape-a-coin” technology. Though I can’t think of any. I had, decades ago, a ‘solo module’ for classic Dungeons & Dragons that used ‘invisible ink’ to blank out sections of the text to preserve the solo play. I believe it was this one - > **[Blizzard Pass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzard_Pass)** > > Blizzard Pass was the first solo adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was published by TSR in 1983 and used the Basic Rules. > Blizzard Pass is a solo adventure for a thief level 1–3. The thief must cross Blizzard Pass, and then penetrate a cavern system within Blizzard Pass to free the other adventurers from a prison. The module also contains a short adventure for a party of characters level 2–3, dealing with the exploration of the Pass. > Blizzard Pass was wr... Certainly a gimmicky option, but not sure it qualifies as a book. But your quoted line above brought it to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Feurmann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/779978/32.png) [@Feurmann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feurmann)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/89 "2022-11-08T07:27:07Z")
When I worked as a library cataloguer, I read about a legendary book published about some aspect of the Jewish religion. It incorporated a matzo that had been included in the binding somehow (probably in a pocket of some kind attached inside the back cover). The description read something like “1 vol. (x pages); [whatever the dimensions were] + 1 matzo”. I also did actually handle a book that incorporated actual type specimens (i.e. pieces of metal type). They were all non-alphabetic characters, e.g. asterix, carat marks and so on. There is a category name for these type characters that I can neither remember nor find when looking through the catalogue of the library in question. No doubt a Doper who is a letterpress printing buff will know this term. ---
**Author:** ![Feurmann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/779978/32.png) [@Feurmann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feurmann)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/90 "2022-11-08T07:36:24Z")
Actually I just found a reference to these things. They are called fleurons – stylised representations of flowers or leaves, used as typographic ornaments. So nothing to do with asterixes, caret marks or other diacritics. The book was " A suite of fleurons, or a preliminary enquiry into the history & combinable natures of certain printers’ flowers [… etc.]", by John Ryder (Phoenix House, 1956). ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/91 "2022-11-08T19:17:06Z")
Reminds me of the two _Wacky Packages_ photo books that were published. Both books came with several actual Wacky Packages stickers. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/92 "2022-11-08T19:34:26Z")
Yes, but did they come with the cardboard gum? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/93 "2022-11-08T20:37:56Z")
Not quite the same thing, but I’ve seen books with embedded advertisements (advertisements on card stock bound directly into the book) - but that’s not quite as bad as this [What's the Rihannsu for "soup"? - Out of Ambit](https://www.dianeduane.com/outofambit/2015/02/14/whats-rihannsu-soup/) in which German translations of books by Terry Pratchett and Diane Duane had advertisements embedded into the text (with characters enjoying the products being advertised). ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/94 "2022-11-08T20:44:41Z")
Well, now you’re just being insulting to cardboard. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/95 "2022-11-08T21:40:25Z")
I think those were found mostly in the 1970s because in 1971 cigarette advertising on television and in magazines was banned. The companies kept finding loopholes in which they could still place ads. Yep, I found this interesting article on it. Paperback ads actually started earlier but became a flood in 1972. The ads faded after about a decade because the people who kept on smoking didn’t read. > **[Smoke This Book (Published 2007)](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/Collins-t.html)** > > Advertisements used to be common in paperbacks — and tobacco ads were no exception. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/96 "2022-11-08T21:59:03Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I think those were found mostly in the 1970s because in 1971 cigarette advertising on television and in magazines was banned I knew about the TV ban on tobacco ads, but when were print ads banned? The Marlboro Man thrived in magazines for decades. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/97 "2022-11-08T22:43:21Z")
I seem to remember reading somewhere that if you asked Harlan Ellison to autograph a paperback copy of one of his books with one of those bound-in cigarette ads he would (very carefully) tear it out before returning the autographed book to you. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/98 "2022-11-08T22:49:50Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > “Scratch and sniff” kids books were a thing I vaguely remember **Professor Wormbog’s Gloomy Kerploppus** (by Mercer Mayer) was a scratch-‘n’-sniff book we had when I was a kid. The cucumber picture really smelled like cucumbers! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/99 "2022-11-08T23:44:04Z")
That sounds about right. Niven used to correct a typo in Mote in God’s Eye when signing it (he may still do so). ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167/100 "2022-11-09T00:13:28Z")
Artist and Inventor Rufus Butler Seder has published at least three books for kids using a technique he calls Scanimation: transparent sheets of plastic with lenticular images that move when you turn the pages. Here’s a video: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/pXBnDn65-og/maxresdefault.jpg "ABC Animals!: A Scanimation Picture Book") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXBnDn65-og) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimmick-books/974167.md?page=6)