Business as Usual

Predating the phenomenon of the Japanese biz novel by decades, Business as Usual offers us the account of how one man got ahead. There are also instructions for handling maids and an all-female clerical staff. Not clear what product our hero, Alain, is selling, but he does make his mark. As you'd expect, the author of this work was rather an able capitalist. After he turned over the manuscript to Girodias, he then went down the Seine a bit to a fellow named Bruno Rabinsky, and sold the manuscript again, changing the author's name to "Adam Peters." In a defensive move, for later editions Girodias mucked up the first page a bit, and reprinted the work as "Springtime in Paris" by Theobold Lovelace.