Archetype

Marketing finally got me

I resisted the black T-shirt with the bright red “Darwin’s Tree of Life” on sale at the AMNH Darwin exhibit. I resisted the elegant hardcover reissue of the Origin of Species with an introductory essay by E. O. Wilson. I resisted the little metal key-chain with the H.M.S. Beagle. But I couldn’t resist the pencils on sale at the Darwin’s Evolution exhibit presented by the Gulbenkian Foundation.

It’s a simple all-black regular pencil with a facsimile of Charles Darwin’s handwriting with the words “I think”, as he wrote on the page where he sketched the now iconic cladogram tree of life on one of his transmutation notebooks.

Why this particular souvenir? I guess there is something I find fascinating about the aesthetics of handwriting. Oh, did I mention the pencil is all black!

Tags: Charles Darwin

2 Comments to Marketing finally got me

1

Antiquated Tory
March 20, 2009

I got the T-shirt, though at NHM-London, not AMNH. 12 quid. I hope it wasn’t less than $15 in the States…

2

Roberto Keller
March 20, 2009

You got yourself a bargain then. As much as I love the AMNH, I have to say their shops and cafeterias are quite expensive. One can expect to pay $25 for one of those T-shirts. At least the reveneus are well spend on their top-of-the-world exhibits.

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