Book excerpt: Originally published in 1985, the 52 papers that make up Forty Years an Advertising Agent set forth the inception, the development, and the growth of the art (or science) of advertising in a practical way; interesting and inspiring, the papers are an education to any beginner in advertising. The work has permanent value as a contribution to the history of American journalism, and particularly as a clear exposition of one of its comparatively little understood but most important phases.