Petra Clark
@petrabclark.bsky.social
1.1K followers 950 following 270 posts
Special Collections Librarian, former/forever Victorianist (Aestheticism & periodicals), and inveterate cat documentarian. Probably haunting the rare books stacks or stress baking. She/her
![The word blurb was coined in 1906 by American humorist Gelett Burgess (1866–1951).[2] The October 1906 first edition of his short book Are You a Bromide? was presented in a limited edition to an annual trade association dinner. The custom at such events was to have a dust jacket promoting the work and with, as Burgess' publisher B. W. Huebsch described it, "the picture of a damsel—languishing, heroic, or coquettish—anyhow, a damsel on the jacket of every novel".
In this case, the jacket proclaimed "YES, this is a 'BLURB'!" and the picture was of a (fictitious) young woman "Miss Belinda Blurb" shown calling out, described as "in the act of blurbing." The name and term stuck for any publisher's contents on a book's back cover, even after the picture was dropped and only the text remained.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:xymlowc32o3pc6g2xalek4s4/bafkreieugzwvjwchmqn4y6jhr5isznq6q4vfsnsbbafxht75qgxmumchaa)
