Robert Collier - The Robert Collier Letter Book

And what would he get as a result of his fifty years' reading? A heterogeneous collection of facts, unrelated, of no particular value to any one or anything. In the "Harvard Classics," on the other hand, just a few minutes a day would give him the orderly outline of all that man has learned—in effect, a liberal education.

Our first letter having pulled so well, we tried a number of others to determine how many follow-ups we could profitably send on these old leads. On the series we finally worked out, our second letter pulled about 2 1/2 percent, our third 1 1/2 percent, our fourth 1 percent and our final one 2 percent.

Here is letter No. 2. With it we enclosed a circular, which is reproduced after the letter. Following it is the post card that accompanied them.

Will you Examine ”The Harvard Classics”—

Dr Eliot's Five Foot Shelf of Books—

If we send you a set at our own expense

FOR A WEEKS EXAMINATION?

We don't ask you to decide now whether you will want to keep the set. All we want you to do is examine the books for a week in your own home—see for yourself what a wonderful field they open up to you—judge whether they will be worth seven cents a day to you in pleasure, in profit, in actual mental growth.

The World's Civilization on a Book—shelf

For years Dr. Eliot has felt that all the books really essential to the Twentieth Century American could be contained on a Five Foot Shelf, and when—after 40 years as President of Harvard University—he gave up active work, he set himself the task of picking out from all the myriads of things which have been written and said during the past five thousand years, just those few works of 90 the greatest thinkers in every field which most vividly picture the thought and achievement of the human race since the world began.

The result is literally the putting of the World's civilization on a single book shelf. From the many writings of the greatest thinkers Dr. Eliot has picked those few characteristic works which cover their main ideas, which best express their basic thoughts. He has made it possible for you to have the best works of each of them without having to burden your shelves with the complete writings of all.

Just Fifteen Minutes a Day—

And this is what Dr. Eliot says to you: "I believe that the faithful and considerate reading of these books will give any man the essentials of a liberal education, even if he can devote to them but fifteen minutes a day."

Think of it! THE ESSENTIALS OF A LIBERAL EDUCATION, in only fifteen minutes a day, under the personal guidance of Dr. Eliot, the best teacher and the greatest authority on books and reading in the world today. What other books, or who else, could offer you so much?

A Saving to You of $433.05

There are fifty volumes in the Harvard Classics, and they contain 418 complete works by 300 of the greatest writers the world has ever known. Bought separately in even the cheapest editions and bindings, these 418 works would cost you $472.05, yet we offer them to you, uniformly bound in silk cloth stamped in gold, with foot-notes, reading guide and an encyclopedic index of 76,000 subjects, at only 90 for each of the 418 works—$39.00 for the set complete in fifty volumes, and you can pay for them just as you like—even as little as $2.00 a month.

An Encyclopedia of References

Lawyers tell us that in their pleas, editors in their editorials, teachers in their teaching, clergymen in their sermons, and business men in their occasional talks, they are getting to depend in a wonderful degree on this key to the world’s thought.

You see, it not only gives you the best thought of the world’s Masters on most important subjects, but every thought, every period, every subject even remotely touched upon, is made instantly accessible through the wonderful Index that is appended to volume 50—an Index that contains 76,000 references.

Examine the Books for a Week-at Our Expense

Don’t send a cent of money. Simply drop the enclosed card in the mail and the complete set of Harvard Classics will be shipped to you from our nearest Branch Office AT OUR EXPENSE. Keep them for a week; browse through them; read them; enjoy them. We won’t urge you to buy them either then or now, because we realize that it is up to you to make up your mind in your own way as to just what the books will be worth to you. If you decide not to keep them, you can return them at the end of the week without question at our expense.

Letter No. 3 is one that came into the series later, after the start of the World War. Like the two before it, it is built around the one idea enunciated by Carlyle: "All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been—it is lying in magic preservation in the pages of books." But it takes guidance to find the right books, and in Dr. Eliot, for forty years President of Harvard University, we had found the guide par excellence.

Its enclosure, which follows, added measurably to its pulling power—in fact, it has been our experience that a good circular will add from 25 to 33 per cent to the pulling power of almost any letter After the circular follows the order card—the same, except for the copy on the front, as on follow-up No. 2.

The Harvard Classics Contain a Liberal Education

They are the crowning educational achievement of Dr. Chas. W. Eliot, representing the results of his lifetime of reading, study and teaching—40 years of it as President of Harvard University. They contain that literature of the world which broadens the horizon, liberalizes the mind and enables the busy Twentieth Century American to become really well-read and well-posted in just a few minutes a day.

The World's Civilization on a Bookshelf

There are fifty volumes in the Harvard Classics, and they contain 418 complete works by three hundred of the greatest writers that have ever lived. From all the myriads of things which have been written and said during the past 5,000 years, Dr. Eliot has chosen those few works of the greatest thinkers in every field which most vividly picture the thought and achievement of the human race since the world began.

Examine the Books for a Week—at Our Expense

Don't send a cent of money. Simply drop the enclosed card in the mail and the complete set of Harvard Classics will be shipped to you from our nearest Branch Office AT OUR EXPENSE. Keep them for a week; browse through them; read them; enjoy them. We won't urge you to buy them either then or now, because we realize that it is up to you to make up your mind in your own way as to just what the books will be worth to you. If you decide not to keep them, you can return them at the end of the week without question at our expense.

But the War—?

Just bear in mind what President Wilson, the greatest leader of thought the world has ever known, wrote a short time ago to the President of a Western College who asked him if our colleges should close and general education be neglected at this time.

"By no means should our schools and colleges be closed during the period of the war, and general education be neglected. Never in History have educated, cultured men and women been so needed as they will be in the next few years to carry on the work of reconstruction and peace."

Here is your chance to avail yourself of Dr. Eliot's wonderful knowledge and experience to prepare yourself for the after-the-war problems. You owe it to yourself to at least SEE and EXAMINE this Library that he selected to speed you on the road to a bigger, broader success. The card brings it to your door, charges prepaid. Merely put your name on it and drop it in the mail.