Neill Archer Roan and Jon Guss in front of Blue Riband Exhibit, photo: Mark IrwinA week ago this morning Gary Schrier (my book’s publisher) and I spent the day at our table at the Chicago show with four big cases of books next to my Comoy Blue Riband display. I inscribed the books while Gary sold them. It was really a great experience–one of those very memorable stitches of time that I expect will stick with me forever.

Comoy Blue Riband Exhibit, photo: Mark IrwinThe preceding afternoon, Jon Guss and I presented a session on Comoy, addressing some surprising (and intriguing) results of our research for the book. We had a wonderful audience and a good time. There was food and drink and some great conversation. I felt great about the amount of interest that was shown to my collection exhibit which (immodest as it sounds) turned out to be both lovely and impressive. It is one thing to see three or four Blue Ribands; it is quite different to see 54 of them arrayed in a wide variety of shapes. To really grasp the character of a brand, there is nothing like experiencing critical mass.