While in London last month, I stopped in a rare book store. The owner had devoted one shelf to the many issues of McSweeney's--the literary quarterly started by Dave Eggers. I've been picking up issues of McSwy's since issue 3, so I casually asked how much he was charging for the lot. His answer almost made me cough up my bubble and squeak. One thousand pounds.
Now a thousand pounds is worth almost $1850 these days. All this for a series of journals that never cost more than twenty bucks in your local indie bookstore. But that's just a testament to what Eggers did right with McSweeney's. He gave each issue its own unique character, which in turn, vastly increased its future value. Say what you want about the content within the pages, it's the form those pages took that are driving up its value. Each issue is precious.
Which brings me to my point. McSweeney's is precious in the same way that Crispin Porter makes their ads precious. There's always something new to discover: a hidden joke, a surprising design, a bizarre activity. Clearly there's a hunger for novelty--even in a world as conservative as literary quarterlies. Why aren't more agencies using this to their advantage?
