What Stock Did You Say You Sold (gasp) in 1968?!

     Our most recent find of the week on the used book floor is a true blast from the past in so many ways.  Tucked into a 1964 paperback copy of the novel “In Vivo” was a letter written and mailed in December of 1968 from a mother in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, to her son and his wife in Niantic, Connecticut.   

     Before we get to the letter inside the book, however, we found that the book, itself, is somewhat of a find, as it is a historical novel that deals with (what was then) the relatively new discovery and use of antibiotics in the medical field.  More effective strains of antibiotics were discovered in the 1960s, the time period during which “In Vivo” was written.  How interesting would it be to read a novel today that was based on the “new” and “uncharted” discovery of antibiotics by characters back then?  The book’s 1964 reviewers couldn’t seem to put the “exciting” book down, they stated.  Ahh, progress.    

     But, back to the letter.  It appears to have been written just after the son and his wife were visiting their parents/in-laws on 3½ Elliot Street in St. Johnsbury, VT.  Yes, you read correctly – 3½ Elliot Street.  Why the half, you may ask?  We wondered, too.  Apparently, in older cities in New England, the street numbers were given out consecutively, without skipping numbers to allow for future buildings to be constructed.  As a result, ½ and even ¼ street addresses were later assigned to new structures.  That sounds like something right out of Harry Potter to us. 

     The mother wrote to her son about how she finally sold her all of her Bates stock (from the Bates Worldwide advertising and marketing company) at $19 a share after having bought a great deal of it in the mid 1940s – only a handful of years after the company was founded.  She stated that as a “staunch New Englander” she hated to risk selling it at a loss, so she got nervous and got rid of the stock when she saw the price rise above $17 a share – what she purchased it for.  Little did she know that Bates Worldwide, whose future clients would include M&Ms, Nabisco, Colgate and Palmolive (just to name a few) would prove to be a powerhouse in the world of advertising and their profits exploded in the 70s and 80s.  Too bad.  Makes you wonder what her investment would have turned into had she not sold the stock in the 1960s.  We will never know.

     As with all of our used books that we feature here at Bayswater, “In Vivo” can be yours for the price of $2.99.  To catch up with our previous finds of the week from the used book floor, you can always check us out at bayswaterbooks.com and on facebook, or stop by the store in Center Harbor and check out the used book floor for yourself!