What did Harry Sherman establish to make books more generally available to the reading public?

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In 1916, one Harry Sherman of Philadelphia – an advertising copywriter with expertise on mail-order promotion and a lover of books and reading – founded a mail-order book firm called the Little Leather Library with a couple of his colleagues. The outfit did reasonably well for a few years, but then petered out. Still, Sherman and his partners were convinced that the idea of selling books to readers directly through the mail was a great one: rural America, they knew, had been underestimated and under-served by publishers and booksellers. These were days before retail chains, mall superstores (let alone websites), and customers depended on the big city stores and mail-order catalogues. Sherman and his partners were convinced that the idea of selling books to readers directly through the mail was a great one: rural America, they knew, had been underestimated and under-served by publishers and booksellers. These were days before retail chains, mall superstores (let alone websites), and customers depended on the big city stores and mail-order catalogues. There was a big window of opportunity there and Harry was determined to exploit it: in 1926 he assembled an Editorial Board of Judges which would be responsible for recommending and promoting only the most noteworthy books in any category, and the new company called Book-of-the-Month Club was born. http://www.bookclubs-online.com/guides/history/ May 23 10, 11:18 PM