(text only version)
The Seed Catalogue
A Comparative Study
by Clement Kent, 1991
From Christmas to Easter, the gardener's mailbox
is jammed with catalogues of seeds, plants, tools, and knick-knacks.
Each year the firms involved sell their mailing lists
to other, even less scrupulous concerns until eventually a random
sampling of gaudy, badly printed and
magnificently deceptive gardening brochures, contest offers, and mail-order
catalogues for lunatics and devotees of hard-core
kitsch comes pouring in through the door.
In this trove of wonders it can be hard at
times to separate the chaff from the Chaenomeles. Herein, a short comparative study on
the seed catalogue as a branch of literature.
This article originally appeared
in
paperplates, vol. 1, no. 2.
Copyright 2001 by Clement Kent, c l e m e n t @ g o d e l . n e t