Prada did you say? Is AE a history site whose threads are entwined with Prada? Yes it is true but please don't tell anyone. Ever the reader I too need to change gears. After recent bouts with Henry Ford and Alexander Hamilton I chose something that is described on its paperback cover as "the phenomenal New York Times bestseller." Is that an endorsement from the New York Times? Not exactly. Nevertheless it's very interesting. It is the thinly veiled account of the author's year as an assistant to Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue. One hopes it isn't true.
I always have a book with me. Ten minutes are not for wasting and I had this book with me recently when I went to get a haircut. The stylist [at the price she could not have been just a barber] wailed at the site of this book. "My God I haven't read it yet and I have to. Everyone else has." I regularly carry Pulitzer Prize-winning and National Book Award material to the barber and I've never encountered a reaction before except for once when someone asked how I could carry such a heavy book around. This day I quickly learned that The Devil Wears Prada is a hot topic under the hairdryers.
For those whose orientation is history I'll explain it this way. Ms. Weisberger, the author, is now uncharitably compared to Benedict Arnold by the cognoscenti who write about this field, for committing the heinous crime of writing a novel based on her experience in the world of clothes, couturier, and massive unrelenting dieting. In other words this is the polar opposite of books. This is truly only skin deep. Books to me have always been most interesting for their investigation of what is not visible to the naked eye. Welcome to the new millennium.
To prepare to write about this book I scanned the back issues of the New York Times that report upon fashion and the goings in the "rag" trade with the same vigor they bring to Presidential campaigns. I found reviews by Kate Betts and Janet Maslin published on April 13 and 14, 2004. I also ran a Google search and found 14,900 matches of varying intensity. I coincidentally learned there is now a category of books called "chick lit." Is this now a college major? I thought it was gum.
Miss Betts and Maslin in their reviews set out, compelled by rage, to do for this book what every publisher dreams about. They make accusations that only readers can judge and thus fanned the flames for a group of readers who do not come easily or often to book stores. If ever a book was a natural to be sold next to the sunglasses and mousse racks this is it.
Sotheby's Fine Books & Manuscripts Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: Balthus, Emily Brontë. Wuthering Heights, New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1993. 6,600 USD.
Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. Complete Works, Philadelphia & London: J.B. Lippincott Company & Chapman & Hall, LD, 1850. Limited Edition set of 30 volumes. 7,500 USD.
Sotheby’s: John Lennon, Yoko Ono. Handwritten Letter from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to their Chauffer. 1971. 32,500 USD.
Sotheby’s: Winston Churchill. First edition of War Speeches, Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1941. Set of 7 volumes. 5,500 USD.
Sotheby’s: Andy Warhol, Julia Warhola. Holy Cats First Edition, Signed by Andy Warhol. 1954. 30,000 USD.
Old World Auctions (Feb 11): Lot 11. Blaeu's Superb World Map on a Polar Projection (1695) Est. $5,500 - $7,000
Old World Auctions (Feb 11): Lot 36. Schedel's Ancient World Map with Humanoid Creatures (1493) Est. $14,000 - $17,000
Old World Auctions (Feb 11): Lot 49. One of the First Lunar Globes to Show the Far Side of the Moon (1963) Est. $1,000 - $1,300
Old World Auctions (Feb 11): Lot 5. The First World Map with Lavish Allegorical Vignettes of the Continents (1594) Est. $15,000 - $17,000
Old World Auctions (Feb 11): Lot 55. Anti-British Propaganda Map with Churchill as an Octopus (1942) Est. $2,000 - $2,300
Old World Auctions (Feb 11): Lot 197. One of the Most Influential Maps of Westward Expansion (1846) Est. $9,500 - $12,000
Old World Auctions (Feb 11): Lot 10. Scarce Pitt Edition of Carte-a-Figures Map of the World (1680) Est. $9,500 - $11,000
Old World Auctions (Feb 11): Lot 220. A Fine, Early Rendering of San Francisco (1874) Est. $2,200 - $2,500
Old World Auctions (Feb 11): Lot 707. Hand-Colored Image of the Presentation of Jesus with Gilt Highlights (1450) Est. $1,600 - $1,900
Old World Auctions (Feb 11): Lot 80. One of the Most Important Maps Perpetuating the Myth of the Island of California (1680) Est. $3,250 - $4,000
Old World Auctions (Feb 11): Lot 725. Homann's Atlas Featuring 26 Folio-Sized Maps in Original Color (1715) Est. $4,500 - $5,500
Old World Auctions (Feb 11): Lot 169. One of the Earliest Maps to Show Philadelphia (1695) Est. $4,750 - $6,000
![<b>Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11:</b> DALVIMART, Octavien ou d’ALVIMAR(T)]. CLARK. The Military Costume of Turkey](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/ca2d66a9-721d-4878-a2eb-51a7bb9a3889.jpg "<b>Gros & Delettrez, Feb. 11:</b> DALVIMART, Octavien ou d’ALVIMAR(T)]. CLARK. The Military Costume of Turkey")
