{"history":[],"article":{"id":"29c9a549-58c3-41ff-8967-66a0b531d4aa","title":"Mysteries of the Unknown","slug":"mysteries-of-the-unknown","content":":::summary\n![Mysteries of the Unknown](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Mysteries///of///the///Unknown///%28book///cover%29.jpg)\n**Name:** Mysteries of the Unknown \n**Image Caption:** Cover of \"Mystic Places\", the first series volume commonly selected as the inaugural trial volume \n**Editors:** The Editors of Time-Life Books \n**Translator:** various \n**Illustrator:** various \n**Cover Artist:** various \n**Country:** [Alexandria, Virginia](https://bliptext.com/articles/alexandria-virginia), [USA](https://bliptext.com/articles/usa) [Amsterdam](https://bliptext.com/articles/amsterdam), [Netherlands](https://bliptext.com/articles/netherlands) [Copenhagen](https://bliptext.com/articles/copenhagen), [Denmark](https://bliptext.com/articles/denmark) [Oslo](https://bliptext.com/articles/oslo), [Norway](https://bliptext.com/articles/norway) [Milan](https://bliptext.com/articles/milan)/[Cinisello Balsamo](https://bliptext.com/articles/cinisello-balsamo)/[Bresso](https://bliptext.com/articles/bresso), [Italy](https://bliptext.com/articles/italy) [Athens](https://bliptext.com/articles/athens), [Greece](https://bliptext.com/articles/greece) [Madrid](https://bliptext.com/articles/madrid)/[Barcelona](https://bliptext.com/articles/barcelona), [Spain](https://bliptext.com/articles/spain) [Rio de Janeiro](https://bliptext.com/articles/rio-de-janeiro), [Brazil](https://bliptext.com/articles/brazil) [Buenos Aires](https://bliptext.com/articles/buenos-aires), [Argentina](https://bliptext.com/articles/argentina) [Eltville](https://bliptext.com/articles/eltville)/[Cologne](https://bliptext.com/articles/cologne)/[Augsburg](https://bliptext.com/articles/augsburg), [Germany](https://bliptext.com/articles/germany) [London](https://bliptext.com/articles/london), [UK](https://bliptext.com/articles/uk) [Guilin](https://bliptext.com/articles/guilin), [China](https://bliptext.com/articles/china) \n**Language:** en-us, en-uk, cn, es, es-ar, de, dk, fr, gr, it, nl, no, pt-br \n**Genre:** New Age, Parapsychology, Spiritualism \n**Publisher:** [Time-Life Books. Inc.](https://bliptext.com/articles/time-life)

Time-Life Books B.V.

[Arnoldo Mondadori Editore](https://bliptext.com/articles/arnoldo-mondadori-editore) Lademann [Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS](https://bliptext.com/articles/gyldendal-norsk-forlag-as) Εκδόσεις Αλκυών (Alkyon Publications) Ediciones del Prado/Ediciones Folio, S.A. Hobby & Work Italiana Editrice [Abril Livros](https://bliptext.com/articles/grupo-abril) [Editorial Atlántida](https://bliptext.com/articles/editorial-atl-ntida) Predita Verlag

ECO Köln/VVA
H+L Verlag

Caxton Publishing Group Weltbild Verlag Lijiang Publishers \n**Pub Date:** 1987-2006 \n**English Pub Date:** 1987-92 \n**Media Type:** print \n**Number Of Books:** 33 (or less for some foreign editions) \n**Oclc:** 53294846 \n:::\n\n# \n**Mysteries of the Unknown** is a series of books about the [paranormal](https://bliptext.com/articles/paranormal), published on the North-American home market by [Time-Life Books](https://bliptext.com/articles/time-life-books) from 1987 through 1992.\nEach book focused on a different topic, such as [ghosts](https://bliptext.com/articles/ghost), [UFOs](https://bliptext.com/articles/ufo), [psychic powers](https://bliptext.com/articles/parapsychology) and [dreams](https://bliptext.com/articles/dream).\nBook titles included The UFO Phenomenon, Witches and Witchcraft, Hauntings, and more.\nAccording to the [Linkedin](https://bliptext.com/articles/linkedin) page of Tom Corry, Time-Life's then-Vice President of Product Management (1984–90) and under whose auspices the series was launched, it was \"the largest selling book series Time-Life ever produced.\"\n\n# Genesis\nThe idea for the series was conceived after the publisher's management took note of the popularity in the home market of its preceding [Enchanted World](https://bliptext.com/articles/enchanted-world) myths and folklore book series.\nA polling of its customer database revealed that there was a \"decent interest\" among customers in having a more mysterious and metaphysical book series as well, according to Tom Corry.\nNot only that, but the publisher also played into the era's growing popular fascination with the para, or supernatural, which eventually culminated in the long-running and hugely successful 1993-2000 [X-Files](https://bliptext.com/articles/x-files) television series and the many motion picture emulators it spawned afterwards.\nCorry recalled that management \"thought we could probably squeeze a series out of this,\" and went ahead with the development of the series.\nThe Enchanted World series had already set in motion Time-Life Books' trend towards more [sensationalism](https://bliptext.com/articles/sensationalism) away from the hitherto soberly and scientifically written publications, the publisher was until then renowned for.\nMysteries of the Unknown though, took it up a notch and the actual \"The Editors of Time-Life Books\" content writers/creators resented their management for it, or as Corry had put it, \"Oh yeah. They hated that stuff.\"\nAt first the editorial staff seemed to be justified in their skepticism as initial sales were less than stellar when the series was launched in the early summer of 1987, until happenstance intervened.\nOn 16-17 August 1987 the [Harmonic Convergence](https://bliptext.com/articles/harmonic-convergence) event took place which sparked a massive upsurge in worldwide interest in the topics covered by the Time-Life series, and sales took off with Corry recalling that \"[r]ight after that, in the fall of '87, we couldn’t print enough books.\"\nAs for the skeptical editors and despite them having never embraced the subject matter, Corry did credit them for their usual steadfast adherence of subjecting the series to the same rigors of investigation and annotation as any of their historical titles, resulting in that the Mysteries of the Unknown series also employed the same basic scientific principles in genuine attempts to validate the credibility of the theories discussed within.\nThe book series broke the sales record for the company, which enabled the [New York Times](https://bliptext.com/articles/new-york-times) to report that one year into its release 700,000 copies of the first, \"Mystic Places\", volume had already been sold on the home market alone, whilst being just one of the eventual 33-volume series, and without even taken into account the additional sales in international markets.\n\n# Release overview\nEach volume in the 33-volume series, including the \"Master Index\", was either 144 or 160 pages in length (the 176-page volume 11 excepted), heavily illustrated and with pictorial essays on specific topics within each volume and were as a rule issued without a dust jacket.\nExecuted in hardcover, each volume was bound in black faux leatherette, the cover endowed in silver printed text imprints, and with a square shaped illustration glued on.\nTime-Life Books was renowned for its exclusive use of the [direct-to-consumer](https://bliptext.com/articles/direct-to-consumer) (DTC) business model, meaning they sold their book series directly to customers and mailed the individual books to households on a (bi-)monthly basis, typically through subscription, and the Mysteries of the Unknown series was no exception.\nAs usual, the book series was supported by a television ad campaign, which was particularly vigorous in this case (see [below](https://bliptext.com/articles/)).\nBy 1991 however, Time-Life Books' DTC business model had started to slump, and the company decided to distribute their publications through regular bookstore retail channels as well alongside their hitherto traditional DTC-only channel, such as the [Barnes & Noble](https://bliptext.com/articles/barnes-noble) bookstores.\nIt resulted for the time being in a decided recovery of the company's overall book sales which went a long way to explain the long-lived availability of Mysteries of the Unknown series well into the late 1990s.\nAs had been customary with the Time-Life Books series publications, each of the original US first-print series volumes had received two [ISBNs](https://bliptext.com/articles/isbn) (the second one usually eight numbers higher), with the lower number indicating the retail/DTC copies whereas the higher ones indicate the [library binding](https://bliptext.com/articles/library-binding) (\"lib. bdg.\") copies as specified in the book [colophons](https://bliptext.com/articles/colophon-publishing) – which remained adhered to for later with higher newly assigned [ISBNs](https://bliptext.com/articles/isbn) endowed revised editions as well, if there were any.\nNeither of the two versions nor their later reprints were furnished with dust jackets.\nHowever, in 1997 a separate printing was commissioned by Barnes & Noble as retail exclusives for their bookstore chain, and while these were otherwise nearly indistinguishable from the main home market releases, safe for the copyright colophons, they were endowed with dust jackets.\nIt is unknown however, what the extent of the Barnes & Noble reprint run was beyond the two known titles listed below.\nAn out-of-the-ordinary home market release concerned the Chinese-language versions Time-Life Books issued a year earlier in North America on behalf of the Chinese-speaking populace.\nAs with the Barnes & Noble edition and already rare to begin with, it is hard to ascertain the scope of this release beyond the four known titles listed below.\n\n## International editions\nContrary to the inspirational Enchanted World series, which had not been widely translated into other languages, its Mysteries of the Unknown spawn was.\nUK as well as French, German, and Dutch-language editions are known to have been released in the overlapping time-span by the local \"Time-Life Books B.V.\"\n[Amsterdam](https://bliptext.com/articles/amsterdam) subsidiary branch as otherwise exact copies of their US counterparts where book format execution was concerned.\nThe 1990-93 Netherlands/Flanders Dutch-language edition though, was not only published out-of-order, but severely truncated as well, as only eight titles are known to have been released in translation, most likely because of disappointing sales.\nThe 1988-93 UK, French (as **Mystères de l'inconnu**, also disseminated in the other [Francophone](https://bliptext.com/articles/francophone) countries, French-Canada included) and German (as **Geheimnisse des Unbekannten**, also disseminated in the other [Germanophone](https://bliptext.com/articles/germanophone) countries) editions on the other hand, were released in their entirety, albeit that volume 33, the \"Master Index\", was passed over in all cases.\nThe UK edition also served for the series' dissemination in the [Commonwealth of Nations](https://bliptext.com/articles/commonwealth-of-nations), [Anglophone](https://bliptext.com/articles/anglophone) Canada excepted which was served with the US home market edition.\nWile the French edition did not, the German edition carried Dutch ISBNs, confusingly the very same ones as the Dutch-language counterparts, save volume 12, if there had been any.\nContrary to the French and Dutch editions though, which only saw one print run each, yet like in the US, the series was a popular one in the UK and the German-speaking territories in particular, enjoying multiple reprints; of the first German-language title, \"Mystische Stätten\" (=\"Mystic Places\"), for example, is known that there have been at least nine Time-Life Books printings between 1988 and 1992 alone.\nExcept for the Dutch-language edition, which took considerably longer, the other Time-Life European edition releases lagged about six to twelve months behind the release of the North-American source publications.\nThis also held true for the UK edition, as additional editorial work was required to convert the texts from American-spelled English into British-spelled English.\nThe Amsterdam subsidiary maintained administrative satellite offices in the UK, Germany and France which facilitated the series publication by Time-Life Books themselves.\nIn those European countries where Time-Life Books did not have a physical presence, another path was usually taken to market their publications; extending publication licenses to local publishers who showed interest in releasing the books in translation – interested parties in other language territories where no edition in translation was considered, were offered the opportunity to acquire the original English-language version via mail through their nearest Time-Life Books subsidiary as was standard operating procedure for the company at the time, typically by taking out a series subscription.\nPer the book colophons, these European licenses could have been extended by either the Amsterdam subsidiary, or, in rarer cases, by the American mother company as had been the case for the Spanish-language edition.\nWhere Mysteries of the Unknown was concerned, interest turned out to be ample.\nMediterranean Europe saw three editions in translation besides the French one.\nIn Greece the series was partially released by [Athens](https://bliptext.com/articles/athens)-based Alkyon Publications (as **Παραψυχολογία**, 1990–91, eleven known published volumes in dust jacket, but published out-of-order ), Italy saw a likewise partial series release by [Milan](https://bliptext.com/articles/milan) publishing giant [Arnoldo Mondadori Editore](https://bliptext.com/articles/arnoldo-mondadori-editore) (as **I misteri dell'ignoto**, 1990–92, the first twenty volumes published ), whereas Time-Life Books' regular go-to licensee Ediciones Folio, S.A. from [Barcelona](https://bliptext.com/articles/barcelona) had a Spanish-language edition published (as **Misterios de lo desconocido**, entire series published in 1993, the \"Master Index\" included )\nItaly already saw a reissue of their series by [Balsamo](https://bliptext.com/articles/balsamo)/[Bresso](https://bliptext.com/articles/bresso)-based Hobby & Work Italiana Editrice in 1995–96.\nHobby & Work was actually predominantly a [partwork](https://bliptext.com/articles/partwork) publisher, a publication format particularly popular in southern Europe at the time, and not only reissued the series in the original hardback book format, but had each book split up in five magazine-style paperback parts as well, concurrently selling them as magazine issues through the newsstand channel with one of them accompanied by a 30-minute [VHS](https://bliptext.com/articles/vhs)-tape that dealt with the underlying topic.\nAs a matter of fact, this also applied to the Spanish edition as Folio co-published the series with specialized [Madrid](https://bliptext.com/articles/madrid) partwork publisher Ediciones del Prado who had already marketed the newsstand variant of the publication in a similar way two years before Hobby & Work would do.\nThe [Nordic countries](https://bliptext.com/articles/nordic-countries) too, received their share of the series in translation variants.\nCoined **Mystikkens verden**, the series saw a partial publication in Denmark and Norway, as with their southern neighbors in a book format copied from the source material.\nThe Danish edition was released by [Copenhagen](https://bliptext.com/articles/copenhagen) publisher Lademann (1990–93, 28 volumes ), whereas the Norwegian edition was released by [Oslo](https://bliptext.com/articles/oslo)-based [Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS](https://bliptext.com/articles/gyldendal-norsk-forlag-as) (1991–92, 12 volumes).\nLike the North-American volumes, the Danish and Norwegian counterparts were furnished with two ISBNs as it is customary in these countries to distinguish between books sold through magazine newsstand channels and books sold through the retail bookstore channel if both channels are selected by the publisher in question as means of distribution.\nOf volume 12 \"Hauntings\" at least, is known that it had also seen its \"Sálfarir\" Icelandic-language counterpart edition published in 1991 by Almenna bókafélagið, [Reykjavík](https://bliptext.com/articles/reykjav-k).\nIt is unknown though, if this release concerned a standalone one-off, or if it had been part of a larger publication effort.\nIt was not just Europe that saw their own editions published; other parts of the world saw their region-specific editions released as well by local publishers under a full license from the Time-Life Books, Inc. mother company.\nThe largest of these concerned the Brazilian **Mistérios do desconhecido** edition published by [Abril Livros](https://bliptext.com/articles/grupo-abril) opreating out of [Rio de Janeiro](https://bliptext.com/articles/rio-de-janeiro) (1992–96, 24 volumes ), likewise in a format edition that was a Portuguese-language copy of the originating home market publication – a salient detail was that mother country Portugal had not seen its own edition released.\nThe second known Latin-American edition was the 1992-93 Misterios de lo desconocido Spanish-language publication released in Argentina by [Editorial Atlántida S.A.](https://bliptext.com/articles/editorial-atl-ntida), a major magazine publisher from [Buenos Aires](https://bliptext.com/articles/buenos-aires).\nTheirs however, was a deviant paperback release format with redesigned wrappers as cover, as the at least twelve known volumes were released in a magazine-type format under the overall Biblioteca Time Life Books Conozca Más moniker as indication that it was intended as a side collection of the publisher's then-main Conozca Más magazine publication.\nIn service of that goal and published out of order, the volumes were also truncated to 98 pages.\nThe precise extent of that publication effort is unknown however.\nRounding out the international other-language editions, are the ones known to have been released in the Far East, again under a full license from Time-Life Books, Inc. A partial series release in translation was published in one batch in mainland China in February 2002 by Lijiang Publishers, [Guilin](https://bliptext.com/articles/guilin), as part of their \"鏖战位置丛书 (Tiao zhan wei zhi cong shu)\" collection.\nAt least five such volume releases are known.\nA single Japanese-language release of volume 24 is also known to have been published by [Tokyo](https://bliptext.com/articles/tokyo)-based Burai Shuppan in 2006.\nBut as with the earlier referenced Icelandic release, it remains unclear whether or not it had been a standalone one-off, or if it had been part of a larger publication effort.\nThe Far-Eastern releases though, concerned in both cases smaller-sized paperback budget-price releases with completely redesigned covers.\nOver a decade after the publication of the series by Time-Life Books, some, but not all, of its first-edition UK and German-language volumes were joined by two followup editions released by third-party publishers, who were licensed to do so by the European \"Time-Life Books B.V.\"\nAmsterdam branch as specified in the colophons of the individual volumes.\nThe first concerned the 1999 second-edition German-language hardcovers without a dust jacket release, licensed to [Eltville](https://bliptext.com/articles/eltville)-based Predita Verlag who released these volumes under its \"ECO [Köln](https://bliptext.com/articles/k-ln)/VVA\" imprint, featuring deviant cover art and newly assigned ISBNs, but did not carry the first edition Geheimnisse des Unbekannten series title though the original Time-Life cover illustration was printed on the back-cover.\nThey were joined by a 2005-06 third German-language edition released by [Augsburg](https://bliptext.com/articles/augsburg)-based publisher Weltbild Verlag.\nAlso executed as simple hardcovers with again new covers they were this time around issued with no ISBNs and subordinated under the publisher's \"Weltbild-Sammler Editionen\" collection, mentioning the original German series title as subtitle.\nSomewhat confusingly, as there was some overlap in volume titles reissued, Predita continued their second-edition release by reprinting some of its volumes under the same ISBN with redesigned versions of their covers around this time as well, but now under its \"H+L Verlag, Köln\" imprint.\nThe German reiteration effort was rather modest in scope, as only about a dozen volumes of the series are known to be released by Predita under both its imprints, whereas that of Weltbild was even more modest with its eight known volumes released.\nApart from the two licensed German-language reiterations, some series volumes saw a 2003-04 second-edition in the UK as well from the [London](https://bliptext.com/articles/london)-based [Caxton Publishing Group](https://bliptext.com/articles/caxton-press-united-kingdom), likewise under a full license from the European Time-Life Books B.V. which had managed to stay in business a few years longer after the American \"Time-Life Books, Inc.\"\nmother division had gone defunct in 2001 as a dedicated book publisher.\nThe volumes released by Caxton featured redesigned cover art with a dust jacket and were furnished with new ISBNs.\nAs usual with the Caxton editions, its licensed Time-Life pedigree releases did feature the Time-Life logo on the spine and front cover of the individual books.\nHad the German reiteration effort already been modest in scope, the UK effort turned out to be far more modest with its only three known second-edition title releases.\nBoth the UK and German reiterations were specifically intended for the regular bookstore retail channel.\nContrary to the ubiquitous availability of the first edition Time-Life series volumes on the UK and German used-book markets (as they are on all other territory markets as well for that matter, the English-language ones in particular), their higher edition volumes are a lot more uncommon.\nStill, by becoming one of Time-Life's most widely disseminated series in translation, it was testament to the worldwide appeal and popularity (and thus financial success) the Mysteries of the Unknown series enjoyed at the time.\n\n## Volume titles of Mysteries of the Unknown\n''In order of publication; the US, UK and German editions have their first (Time-Life) edition ISBN(s) listed first, followed by the higher edition ISBNs where applicable.\nWhere listed, the US \"076070...\"\nISBNs concern the 1997 editions in dust jacket for the Barnes & Noble retail bookstore chain.\nThe US editions have both their (1st and revised edition) retail, and library binding ISBNs listed, whereas the Danish and Norwegian editions have both their retail, and magazine newsstand channel ISBNs listed where known.''\n\n## Slipcase\nWhile the series was being released for the first time, the publisher had enabled its subscribers to separately order a in silver imprinted hardboard slipcase, executed in black faux leather in emulation of how the books themselves were executed and able to hold three volumes.\nAlready relatively rare to begin with when it was issued originally, this slipcase is hard to come by on current used-book markets.\n\n## Excerpt editions\nThe publisher released a 96-page softcover excerpt edition in 1989.\nTitled \"A collection from Mysteries of the Unknown\" (, no ISBN issued), the in [Prussian blue](https://bliptext.com/articles/prussian-blue) wrapped magazine-style book was just that, a sampling for prospective subscribers who were inquisitive about what the main series was all about, with its contents partially lifted from volumes 2 and 6.\nA much more substantial 436-page excerpt [paperback](https://bliptext.com/articles/paperback) edition was released in 1997 by the Quality Paperback Book Club (New York) publisher, under a full license from Time-Life Books, Inc. Titled \"Mysteries of the Unknown\" (ISBN 0783549121), after its series namesake, it had its chapters roughly organized along the lines of the series volumes.\nIn 2006, the excerpt book was reissued (ISBN 0760781095) by Barnes & Noble on behalf of their bookstore chain, again fully licensed by then-owner of Time-Life Books, Direct Holdings Americas Inc.\n\n## Home market reprints\nHome market DTC sales started to slow down from 1991 onward and it was the subsequent year decided to stop adding new titles to the series in order to free up the editorial staff for new series projects.\nThis did not mean that the Mysteries of the Unknown series was discontinued however, as an additional distribution channel had in the meantime become employed as well, the regular retail bookstore channel.\nThe added revenue that channel generated caused series volumes to remain reprinted over and over again, well into the late-1990s.\nThe series' lifespan was additionally lengthened by the publication licenses extended to third-party home market publishers, like Barnes & Noble Books, the eponymous publishing arm of the aforementioned bookstore chain.\n\n## Spinoffs\nIn 1989-90 while the series publication was still ongoing, a locally developed German-language 'Geheimnisse des Unbekannten Mystische Reise zur 6.\nDimension' board game was released twice in Germany by Time-Life Books B.V. as the only known such companion release, and a further indication of the series' popularity in Germanophone Europe.\nPursuant the main series, Time-Life Books published the near-concurrent 24-volume companion series, Collector's Library of the Unknown, from 1991 through 1993 as well.\nThese concerned deluxe facsimile faux-leather bound reproductions of eyewitness accounts written by people who had firsthand experience with any of the events covered in the main series or by experts on any of these matters.\nThough smaller, the volumes were on purpose executed in a style similar to the main series in order to reinforce the kinship between the two series.\nAdditionally, a subsequent ten-tape Time Life Video World of the Supernatural documentary series release on the [VHS](https://bliptext.com/articles/vhs) home video format had followed suit in 1995, which was like the progenitor book series supported by a television ad campaign.\nOne year later subsidiary Time-Life Audiobooks reissued (part of) the series as taped [audio cassette](https://bliptext.com/articles/audio-cassette) books, with new ISBNs.\nDespite the fact that Time-Life Books had largely withdrawn from book publication in 2003, the subsequent iteration of the publisher did release two additional Mysteries of the Unknown single-book titles on an ad-hoc basis, being largely a rehashing of the considerable editorial effort that was undertaken for the main series thirty years earlier.\nThe titles thus released were,\n\n# Promotion\nFor almost a decade, Time-Life Books supported their Mysteries of the Unknown book series with a TV ad campaign that consisted of commercials that would air during [prime time](https://bliptext.com/articles/prime-time) through broadcast and cable television networks such as [TNN](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-nashville-network), [Nick at Nite](https://bliptext.com/articles/nick-at-nite), [MTV](https://bliptext.com/articles/mtv), [VH-1](https://bliptext.com/articles/vh-1), and [TNT](https://bliptext.com/articles/tnt-u-s-tv-network).\nIn the process the series became one of the publisher's most, if not the most, advertised on television.\nConceived by the New York City-based [Wunderman Worldwide](https://bliptext.com/articles/wunderman) agency and Time-Life's own Tom Corry, the ad campaign stood out for its vigor and longevity as it touted a plethora of variant commercials, many of which currently featured on [YouTube](https://bliptext.com/articles/youtube).\nThe overall marketing campaign, which included the commercial concepts, even won series project manager Corry a Diamond Echo marketing award.\nA non-exhaustive selection of this series of commercials includes among others,\nAnd while new titles additions to the series was halted in 1992, sales and associated activities, of which the latter-day Sirtis commercial was but one, continued unabated right up to the point where Time-Life Books, Inc. ended its very existence in December 2003 after having already become defunct two years earlier.\nThe television ad campaigns were complementary to Time-Life's standard operating procedure of sending out elaborate multi-sheet [direct mailings](https://bliptext.com/articles/direct-mail) to their already existing customer database (which incidentally, had been professionalized by Corry in the early 1980s as one of his first assignments at Time-Life prior to his involvement with The Enchanted World and Mysteries of the Unknown ), in which a series was introduced in detail to a potential subscriber; having taken out a subscription once, a customer was then registered in Time-Life Books' customer database, at the time a crucial business model marketing tool for the company, making that customer eligible for receiving the company's book series promotional [direct mailings](https://bliptext.com/articles/direct-mail) henceforth.\nAs was customary for Time-Life Books at the time when a subscription was taken out, the first book sent (typically the \"Mystic Places\" volume in this case, though other volumes were later offered up for assessment as well) was done so on a ten-day trial basis at a reduced price, after which each bi-monthly next installment could be assessed by customers on the same basis.\nIn addition, US customers who responded by telephone to the television ads were in 1990 rewarded with a free gift consisting of the \"Psychic Powers\" video tape, which was not included in the above-mentioned ten-tape series released five years later, and therefore remained an actual exclusive.\nUntil 1990 that first book sent came additionally with a free bonus gift in the form of a deck of ESP determination cards.\nAfter 1989 that deck of cards was as free bonus gift replaced by a quartz crystal in a felt jewelry pouch.\nCustomers were allowed to keep either bonus gift even if they decided to return the volume it came with.","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T07:46:09.522Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T07:46:09.522Z","search_vector":"'mysteri':1 'unknown':4","search_content":" \n \n**Name:** Mysteries of the Unknown \n**Image Caption:** Cover of \"Mystic Places\", the first series volume commonly selected as the inaugural trial volume \n**Editors:** The Editors of Time-Life Books \n**Translator:** various \n**Illustrator:** various \n**Cover Artist:** various \n**Country:** [Alexandria, Virginia](https://bliptext.com/articles/alexandria-virginia), [USA](https://bliptext.com/articles/usa) [Amsterdam](https://bliptext.com/articles/amsterdam), [Netherlands](https://bliptext.com/articles/netherlands) [Copenhagen](https://bliptext.com/articles/copenhagen), [Denmark](https://bliptext.com/articles/denmark) [Oslo](https://bliptext.com/articles/oslo), [Norway](https://bliptext.com/articles/norway) [Milan](https://bliptext.com/articles/milan)/[Cinisello Balsamo](https://bliptext.com/articles/cinisello-balsamo)/[Bresso](https://bliptext.com/articles/bresso), [Italy](https://bliptext.com/articles/italy) [Athens](https://bliptext.com/articles/athens), [Greece](https://bliptext.com/articles/greece) [Madrid](https://bliptext.com/articles/madrid)/[Barcelona](https://bliptext.com/articles/barcelona), [Spain](https://bliptext.com/articles/spain) [Rio de Janeiro](https://bliptext.com/articles/rio-de-janeiro), [Brazil](https://bliptext.com/articles/brazil) [Buenos Aires](https://bliptext.com/articles/buenos-aires), [Argentina](https://bliptext.com/articles/argentina) [Eltville](https://bliptext.com/articles/eltville)/[Cologne](https://bliptext.com/articles/cologne)/[Augsburg](https://bliptext.com/articles/augsburg), [Germany](https://bliptext.com/articles/germany) [London](https://bliptext.com/articles/london), [UK](https://bliptext.com/articles/uk) [Guilin](https://bliptext.com/articles/guilin), [China](https://bliptext.com/articles/china) \n**Language:** en-us, en-uk, cn, es, es-ar, de, dk, fr, gr, it, nl, no, pt-br \n**Genre:** New Age, Parapsychology, Spiritualism \n**Publisher:** [Time-Life Books. Inc.](https://bliptext.com/articles/time-life) Time-Life Books B.V. [Arnoldo Mondadori Editore](https://bliptext.com/articles/arnoldo-mondadori-editore) Lademann [Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS](https://bliptext.com/articles/gyldendal-norsk-forlag-as) Εκδόσεις Αλκυών (Alkyon Publications) Ediciones del Prado/Ediciones Folio, S.A. Hobby & Work Italiana Editrice [Abril Livros](https://bliptext.com/articles/grupo-abril) [Editorial Atlántida](https://bliptext.com/articles/editorial-atl-ntida) Predita Verlag ECO Köln/VVA H+L Verlag Caxton Publishing Group Weltbild Verlag Lijiang Publishers \n**Pub Date:** 1987-2006 \n**English Pub Date:** 1987-92 \n**Media Type:** print \n**Number Of Books:** 33 (or less for some foreign editions) \n**Oclc:** 53294846 \n \n\n# \n**Mysteries of the Unknown** is a series of books about the [paranormal](https://bliptext.com/articles/paranormal), published on the North-American home market by [Time-Life Books](https://bliptext.com/articles/time-life-books) from 1987 through 1992.\nEach book focused on a different topic, such as [ghosts](https://bliptext.com/articles/ghost), [UFOs](https://bliptext.com/articles/ufo), [psychic powers](https://bliptext.com/articles/parapsychology) and [dreams](https://bliptext.com/articles/dream).\nBook titles included The UFO Phenomenon, Witches and Witchcraft, Hauntings, and more.\nAccording to the [Linkedin](https://bliptext.com/articles/linkedin) page of Tom Corry, Time-Life's then-Vice President of Product Management (1984–90) and under whose auspices the series was launched, it was \"the largest selling book series Time-Life ever produced.\"\n\n# Genesis\nThe idea for the series was conceived after the publisher's management took note of the popularity in the home market of its preceding [Enchanted World](https://bliptext.com/articles/enchanted-world) myths and folklore book series.\nA polling of its customer database revealed that there was a \"decent interest\" among customers in having a more mysterious and metaphysical book series as well, according to Tom Corry.\nNot only that, but the publisher also played into the era's growing popular fascination with the para, or supernatural, which eventually culminated in the long-running and hugely successful 1993-2000 [X-Files](https://bliptext.com/articles/x-files) television series and the many motion picture emulators it spawned afterwards.\nCorry recalled that management \"thought we could probably squeeze a series out of this,\" and went ahead with the development of the series.\nThe Enchanted World series had already set in motion Time-Life Books' trend towards more [sensationalism](https://bliptext.com/articles/sensationalism) away from the hitherto soberly and scientifically written publications, the publisher was until then renowned for.\nMysteries of the Unknown though, took it up a notch and the actual \"The Editors of Time-Life Books\" content writers/creators resented their management for it, or as Corry had put it, \"Oh yeah. They hated that stuff.\"\nAt first the editorial staff seemed to be justified in their skepticism as initial sales were less than stellar when the series was launched in the early summer of 1987, until happenstance intervened.\nOn 16-17 August 1987 the [Harmonic Convergence](https://bliptext.com/articles/harmonic-convergence) event took place which sparked a massive upsurge in worldwide interest in the topics covered by the Time-Life series, and sales took off with Corry recalling that \"[r]ight after that, in the fall of '87, we couldn’t print enough books.\"\nAs for the skeptical editors and despite them having never embraced the subject matter, Corry did credit them for their usual steadfast adherence of subjecting the series to the same rigors of investigation and annotation as any of their historical titles, resulting in that the Mysteries of the Unknown series also employed the same basic scientific principles in genuine attempts to validate the credibility of the theories discussed within.\nThe book series broke the sales record for the company, which enabled the [New York Times](https://bliptext.com/articles/new-york-times) to report that one year into its release 700,000 copies of the first, \"Mystic Places\", volume had already been sold on the home market alone, whilst being just one of the eventual 33-volume series, and without even taken into account the additional sales in international markets.\n\n# Release overview\nEach volume in the 33-volume series, including the \"Master Index\", was either 144 or 160 pages in length (the 176-page volume 11 excepted), heavily illustrated and with pictorial essays on specific topics within each volume and were as a rule issued without a dust jacket.\nExecuted in hardcover, each volume was bound in black faux leatherette, the cover endowed in silver printed text imprints, and with a square shaped illustration glued on.\nTime-Life Books was renowned for its exclusive use of the [direct-to-consumer](https://bliptext.com/articles/direct-to-consumer) (DTC) business model, meaning they sold their book series directly to customers and mailed the individual books to households on a (bi-)monthly basis, typically through subscription, and the Mysteries of the Unknown series was no exception.\nAs usual, the book series was supported by a television ad campaign, which was particularly vigorous in this case (see [below](https://bliptext.com/articles/)).\nBy 1991 however, Time-Life Books' DTC business model had started to slump, and the company decided to distribute their publications through regular bookstore retail channels as well alongside their hitherto traditional DTC-only channel, such as the [Barnes & Noble](https://bliptext.com/articles/barnes-noble) bookstores.\nIt resulted for the time being in a decided recovery of the company's overall book sales which went a long way to explain the long-lived availability of Mysteries of the Unknown series well into the late 1990s.\nAs had been customary with the Time-Life Books series publications, each of the original US first-print series volumes had received two [ISBNs](https://bliptext.com/articles/isbn) (the second one usually eight numbers higher), with the lower number indicating the retail/DTC copies whereas the higher ones indicate the [library binding](https://bliptext.com/articles/library-binding) (\"lib. bdg.\") copies as specified in the book [colophons](https://bliptext.com/articles/colophon-publishing) – which remained adhered to for later with higher newly assigned [ISBNs](https://bliptext.com/articles/isbn) endowed revised editions as well, if there were any.\nNeither of the two versions nor their later reprints were furnished with dust jackets.\nHowever, in 1997 a separate printing was commissioned by Barnes & Noble as retail exclusives for their bookstore chain, and while these were otherwise nearly indistinguishable from the main home market releases, safe for the copyright colophons, they were endowed with dust jackets.\nIt is unknown however, what the extent of the Barnes & Noble reprint run was beyond the two known titles listed below.\nAn out-of-the-ordinary home market release concerned the Chinese-language versions Time-Life Books issued a year earlier in North America on behalf of the Chinese-speaking populace.\nAs with the Barnes & Noble edition and already rare to begin with, it is hard to ascertain the scope of this release beyond the four known titles listed below.\n\n## International editions\nContrary to the inspirational Enchanted World series, which had not been widely translated into other languages, its Mysteries of the Unknown spawn was.\nUK as well as French, German, and Dutch-language editions are known to have been released in the overlapping time-span by the local \"Time-Life Books B.V.\"\n[Amsterdam](https://bliptext.com/articles/amsterdam) subsidiary branch as otherwise exact copies of their US counterparts where book format execution was concerned.\nThe 1990-93 Netherlands/Flanders Dutch-language edition though, was not only published out-of-order, but severely truncated as well, as only eight titles are known to have been released in translation, most likely because of disappointing sales.\nThe 1988-93 UK, French (as **Mystères de l'inconnu**, also disseminated in the other [Francophone](https://bliptext.com/articles/francophone) countries, French-Canada included) and German (as **Geheimnisse des Unbekannten**, also disseminated in the other [Germanophone](https://bliptext.com/articles/germanophone) countries) editions on the other hand, were released in their entirety, albeit that volume 33, the \"Master Index\", was passed over in all cases.\nThe UK edition also served for the series' dissemination in the [Commonwealth of Nations](https://bliptext.com/articles/commonwealth-of-nations), [Anglophone](https://bliptext.com/articles/anglophone) Canada excepted which was served with the US home market edition.\nWile the French edition did not, the German edition carried Dutch ISBNs, confusingly the very same ones as the Dutch-language counterparts, save volume 12, if there had been any.\nContrary to the French and Dutch editions though, which only saw one print run each, yet like in the US, the series was a popular one in the UK and the German-speaking territories in particular, enjoying multiple reprints; of the first German-language title, \"Mystische Stätten\" (=\"Mystic Places\"), for example, is known that there have been at least nine Time-Life Books printings between 1988 and 1992 alone.\nExcept for the Dutch-language edition, which took considerably longer, the other Time-Life European edition releases lagged about six to twelve months behind the release of the North-American source publications.\nThis also held true for the UK edition, as additional editorial work was required to convert the texts from American-spelled English into British-spelled English.\nThe Amsterdam subsidiary maintained administrative satellite offices in the UK, Germany and France which facilitated the series publication by Time-Life Books themselves.\nIn those European countries where Time-Life Books did not have a physical presence, another path was usually taken to market their publications; extending publication licenses to local publishers who showed interest in releasing the books in translation – interested parties in other language territories where no edition in translation was considered, were offered the opportunity to acquire the original English-language version via mail through their nearest Time-Life Books subsidiary as was standard operating procedure for the company at the time, typically by taking out a series subscription.\nPer the book colophons, these European licenses could have been extended by either the Amsterdam subsidiary, or, in rarer cases, by the American mother company as had been the case for the Spanish-language edition.\nWhere Mysteries of the Unknown was concerned, interest turned out to be ample.\nMediterranean Europe saw three editions in translation besides the French one.\nIn Greece the series was partially released by [Athens](https://bliptext.com/articles/athens)-based Alkyon Publications (as **Παραψυχολογία**, 1990–91, eleven known published volumes in dust jacket, but published out-of-order ), Italy saw a likewise partial series release by [Milan](https://bliptext.com/articles/milan) publishing giant [Arnoldo Mondadori Editore](https://bliptext.com/articles/arnoldo-mondadori-editore) (as **I misteri dell'ignoto**, 1990–92, the first twenty volumes published ), whereas Time-Life Books' regular go-to licensee Ediciones Folio, S.A. from [Barcelona](https://bliptext.com/articles/barcelona) had a Spanish-language edition published (as **Misterios de lo desconocido**, entire series published in 1993, the \"Master Index\" included )\nItaly already saw a reissue of their series by [Balsamo](https://bliptext.com/articles/balsamo)/[Bresso](https://bliptext.com/articles/bresso)-based Hobby & Work Italiana Editrice in 1995–96.\nHobby & Work was actually predominantly a [partwork](https://bliptext.com/articles/partwork) publisher, a publication format particularly popular in southern Europe at the time, and not only reissued the series in the original hardback book format, but had each book split up in five magazine-style paperback parts as well, concurrently selling them as magazine issues through the newsstand channel with one of them accompanied by a 30-minute [VHS](https://bliptext.com/articles/vhs)-tape that dealt with the underlying topic.\nAs a matter of fact, this also applied to the Spanish edition as Folio co-published the series with specialized [Madrid](https://bliptext.com/articles/madrid) partwork publisher Ediciones del Prado who had already marketed the newsstand variant of the publication in a similar way two years before Hobby & Work would do.\nThe [Nordic countries](https://bliptext.com/articles/nordic-countries) too, received their share of the series in translation variants.\nCoined **Mystikkens verden**, the series saw a partial publication in Denmark and Norway, as with their southern neighbors in a book format copied from the source material.\nThe Danish edition was released by [Copenhagen](https://bliptext.com/articles/copenhagen) publisher Lademann (1990–93, 28 volumes ), whereas the Norwegian edition was released by [Oslo](https://bliptext.com/articles/oslo)-based [Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS](https://bliptext.com/articles/gyldendal-norsk-forlag-as) (1991–92, 12 volumes).\nLike the North-American volumes, the Danish and Norwegian counterparts were furnished with two ISBNs as it is customary in these countries to distinguish between books sold through magazine newsstand channels and books sold through the retail bookstore channel if both channels are selected by the publisher in question as means of distribution.\nOf volume 12 \"Hauntings\" at least, is known that it had also seen its \"Sálfarir\" Icelandic-language counterpart edition published in 1991 by Almenna bókafélagið, [Reykjavík](https://bliptext.com/articles/reykjav-k).\nIt is unknown though, if this release concerned a standalone one-off, or if it had been part of a larger publication effort.\nIt was not just Europe that saw their own editions published; other parts of the world saw their region-specific editions released as well by local publishers under a full license from the Time-Life Books, Inc. mother company.\nThe largest of these concerned the Brazilian **Mistérios do desconhecido** edition published by [Abril Livros](https://bliptext.com/articles/grupo-abril) opreating out of [Rio de Janeiro](https://bliptext.com/articles/rio-de-janeiro) (1992–96, 24 volumes ), likewise in a format edition that was a Portuguese-language copy of the originating home market publication – a salient detail was that mother country Portugal had not seen its own edition released.\nThe second known Latin-American edition was the 1992-93 Misterios de lo desconocido Spanish-language publication released in Argentina by [Editorial Atlántida S.A.](https://bliptext.com/articles/editorial-atl-ntida), a major magazine publisher from [Buenos Aires](https://bliptext.com/articles/buenos-aires).\nTheirs however, was a deviant paperback release format with redesigned wrappers as cover, as the at least twelve known volumes were released in a magazine-type format under the overall Biblioteca Time Life Books Conozca Más moniker as indication that it was intended as a side collection of the publisher's then-main Conozca Más magazine publication.\nIn service of that goal and published out of order, the volumes were also truncated to 98 pages.\nThe precise extent of that publication effort is unknown however.\nRounding out the international other-language editions, are the ones known to have been released in the Far East, again under a full license from Time-Life Books, Inc. A partial series release in translation was published in one batch in mainland China in February 2002 by Lijiang Publishers, [Guilin](https://bliptext.com/articles/guilin), as part of their \"鏖战位置丛书 (Tiao zhan wei zhi cong shu)\" collection.\nAt least five such volume releases are known.\nA single Japanese-language release of volume 24 is also known to have been published by [Tokyo](https://bliptext.com/articles/tokyo)-based Burai Shuppan in 2006.\nBut as with the earlier referenced Icelandic release, it remains unclear whether or not it had been a standalone one-off, or if it had been part of a larger publication effort.\nThe Far-Eastern releases though, concerned in both cases smaller-sized paperback budget-price releases with completely redesigned covers.\nOver a decade after the publication of the series by Time-Life Books, some, but not all, of its first-edition UK and German-language volumes were joined by two followup editions released by third-party publishers, who were licensed to do so by the European \"Time-Life Books B.V.\"\nAmsterdam branch as specified in the colophons of the individual volumes.\nThe first concerned the 1999 second-edition German-language hardcovers without a dust jacket release, licensed to [Eltville](https://bliptext.com/articles/eltville)-based Predita Verlag who released these volumes under its \"ECO [Köln](https://bliptext.com/articles/k-ln)/VVA\" imprint, featuring deviant cover art and newly assigned ISBNs, but did not carry the first edition Geheimnisse des Unbekannten series title though the original Time-Life cover illustration was printed on the back-cover.\nThey were joined by a 2005-06 third German-language edition released by [Augsburg](https://bliptext.com/articles/augsburg)-based publisher Weltbild Verlag.\nAlso executed as simple hardcovers with again new covers they were this time around issued with no ISBNs and subordinated under the publisher's \"Weltbild-Sammler Editionen\" collection, mentioning the original German series title as subtitle.\nSomewhat confusingly, as there was some overlap in volume titles reissued, Predita continued their second-edition release by reprinting some of its volumes under the same ISBN with redesigned versions of their covers around this time as well, but now under its \"H+L Verlag, Köln\" imprint.\nThe German reiteration effort was rather modest in scope, as only about a dozen volumes of the series are known to be released by Predita under both its imprints, whereas that of Weltbild was even more modest with its eight known volumes released.\nApart from the two licensed German-language reiterations, some series volumes saw a 2003-04 second-edition in the UK as well from the [London](https://bliptext.com/articles/london)-based [Caxton Publishing Group](https://bliptext.com/articles/caxton-press-united-kingdom), likewise under a full license from the European Time-Life Books B.V. which had managed to stay in business a few years longer after the American \"Time-Life Books, Inc.\"\nmother division had gone defunct in 2001 as a dedicated book publisher.\nThe volumes released by Caxton featured redesigned cover art with a dust jacket and were furnished with new ISBNs.\nAs usual with the Caxton editions, its licensed Time-Life pedigree releases did feature the Time-Life logo on the spine and front cover of the individual books.\nHad the German reiteration effort already been modest in scope, the UK effort turned out to be far more modest with its only three known second-edition title releases.\nBoth the UK and German reiterations were specifically intended for the regular bookstore retail channel.\nContrary to the ubiquitous availability of the first edition Time-Life series volumes on the UK and German used-book markets (as they are on all other territory markets as well for that matter, the English-language ones in particular), their higher edition volumes are a lot more uncommon.\nStill, by becoming one of Time-Life's most widely disseminated series in translation, it was testament to the worldwide appeal and popularity (and thus financial success) the Mysteries of the Unknown series enjoyed at the time.\n\n## Volume titles of Mysteries of the Unknown\n''In order of publication; the US, UK and German editions have their first (Time-Life) edition ISBN(s) listed first, followed by the higher edition ISBNs where applicable.\nWhere listed, the US \"076070...\"\nISBNs concern the 1997 editions in dust jacket for the Barnes & Noble retail bookstore chain.\nThe US editions have both their (1st and revised edition) retail, and library binding ISBNs listed, whereas the Danish and Norwegian editions have both their retail, and magazine newsstand channel ISBNs listed where known.''\n\n## Slipcase\nWhile the series was being released for the first time, the publisher had enabled its subscribers to separately order a in silver imprinted hardboard slipcase, executed in black faux leather in emulation of how the books themselves were executed and able to hold three volumes.\nAlready relatively rare to begin with when it was issued originally, this slipcase is hard to come by on current used-book markets.\n\n## Excerpt editions\nThe publisher released a 96-page softcover excerpt edition in 1989.\nTitled \"A collection from Mysteries of the Unknown\" (, no ISBN issued), the in [Prussian blue](https://bliptext.com/articles/prussian-blue) wrapped magazine-style book was just that, a sampling for prospective subscribers who were inquisitive about what the main series was all about, with its contents partially lifted from volumes 2 and 6.\nA much more substantial 436-page excerpt [paperback](https://bliptext.com/articles/paperback) edition was released in 1997 by the Quality Paperback Book Club (New York) publisher, under a full license from Time-Life Books, Inc. Titled \"Mysteries of the Unknown\" (ISBN 0783549121), after its series namesake, it had its chapters roughly organized along the lines of the series volumes.\nIn 2006, the excerpt book was reissued (ISBN 0760781095) by Barnes & Noble on behalf of their bookstore chain, again fully licensed by then-owner of Time-Life Books, Direct Holdings Americas Inc.\n\n## Home market reprints\nHome market DTC sales started to slow down from 1991 onward and it was the subsequent year decided to stop adding new titles to the series in order to free up the editorial staff for new series projects.\nThis did not mean that the Mysteries of the Unknown series was discontinued however, as an additional distribution channel had in the meantime become employed as well, the regular retail bookstore channel.\nThe added revenue that channel generated caused series volumes to remain reprinted over and over again, well into the late-1990s.\nThe series' lifespan was additionally lengthened by the publication licenses extended to third-party home market publishers, like Barnes & Noble Books, the eponymous publishing arm of the aforementioned bookstore chain.\n\n## Spinoffs\nIn 1989-90 while the series publication was still ongoing, a locally developed German-language 'Geheimnisse des Unbekannten Mystische Reise zur 6.\nDimension' board game was released twice in Germany by Time-Life Books B.V. as the only known such companion release, and a further indication of the series' popularity in Germanophone Europe.\nPursuant the main series, Time-Life Books published the near-concurrent 24-volume companion series, Collector's Library of the Unknown, from 1991 through 1993 as well.\nThese concerned deluxe facsimile faux-leather bound reproductions of eyewitness accounts written by people who had firsthand experience with any of the events covered in the main series or by experts on any of these matters.\nThough smaller, the volumes were on purpose executed in a style similar to the main series in order to reinforce the kinship between the two series.\nAdditionally, a subsequent ten-tape Time Life Video World of the Supernatural documentary series release on the [VHS](https://bliptext.com/articles/vhs) home video format had followed suit in 1995, which was like the progenitor book series supported by a television ad campaign.\nOne year later subsidiary Time-Life Audiobooks reissued (part of) the series as taped [audio cassette](https://bliptext.com/articles/audio-cassette) books, with new ISBNs.\nDespite the fact that Time-Life Books had largely withdrawn from book publication in 2003, the subsequent iteration of the publisher did release two additional Mysteries of the Unknown single-book titles on an ad-hoc basis, being largely a rehashing of the considerable editorial effort that was undertaken for the main series thirty years earlier.\nThe titles thus released were,\n\n# Promotion\nFor almost a decade, Time-Life Books supported their Mysteries of the Unknown book series with a TV ad campaign that consisted of commercials that would air during [prime time](https://bliptext.com/articles/prime-time) through broadcast and cable television networks such as [TNN](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-nashville-network), [Nick at Nite](https://bliptext.com/articles/nick-at-nite), [MTV](https://bliptext.com/articles/mtv), [VH-1](https://bliptext.com/articles/vh-1), and [TNT](https://bliptext.com/articles/tnt-u-s-tv-network).\nIn the process the series became one of the publisher's most, if not the most, advertised on television.\nConceived by the New York City-based [Wunderman Worldwide](https://bliptext.com/articles/wunderman) agency and Time-Life's own Tom Corry, the ad campaign stood out for its vigor and longevity as it touted a plethora of variant commercials, many of which currently featured on [YouTube](https://bliptext.com/articles/youtube).\nThe overall marketing campaign, which included the commercial concepts, even won series project manager Corry a Diamond Echo marketing award.\nA non-exhaustive selection of this series of commercials includes among others,\nAnd while new titles additions to the series was halted in 1992, sales and associated activities, of which the latter-day Sirtis commercial was but one, continued unabated right up to the point where Time-Life Books, Inc. ended its very existence in December 2003 after having already become defunct two years earlier.\nThe television ad campaigns were complementary to Time-Life's standard operating procedure of sending out elaborate multi-sheet [direct mailings](https://bliptext.com/articles/direct-mail) to their already existing customer database (which incidentally, had been professionalized by Corry in the early 1980s as one of his first assignments at Time-Life prior to his involvement with The Enchanted World and Mysteries of the Unknown ), in which a series was introduced in detail to a potential subscriber; having taken out a subscription once, a customer was then registered in Time-Life Books' customer database, at the time a crucial business model marketing tool for the company, making that customer eligible for receiving the company's book series promotional [direct mailings](https://bliptext.com/articles/direct-mail) henceforth.\nAs was customary for Time-Life Books at the time when a subscription was taken out, the first book sent (typically the \"Mystic Places\" volume in this case, though other volumes were later offered up for assessment as well) was done so on a ten-day trial basis at a reduced price, after which each bi-monthly next installment could be assessed by customers on the same basis.\nIn addition, US customers who responded by telephone to the television ads were in 1990 rewarded with a free gift consisting of the \"Psychic Powers\" video tape, which was not included in the above-mentioned ten-tape series released five years later, and therefore remained an actual exclusive.\nUntil 1990 that first book sent came additionally with a free bonus gift in the form of a deck of ESP determination cards.\nAfter 1989 that deck of cards was as free bonus gift replaced by a quartz crystal in a felt jewelry pouch.\nCustomers were allowed to keep either bonus gift even if they decided to return the volume it came with.","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

History