Innovative Bookplates Save the Day at Author’s Book Signing

Richard Mac DeMay, MD, celebrated the premier of the brand-new edition of the Art & Science of Cytopathology with a meet-the-author event in the Resident Hub on Oct. 20 at the 2011 ASCP Annual Meeting, Las Vegas. Yet because the new edition is encyclopedic and carries across four volumes that were pre-packed for shipping, not a single book was signed at this event by the author!

But the dozens of purchasers and fans of the book who attended the event did not go away empty handed. Dr DeMay inscribed custom bookplates ASCP designed especially for the event. The bookplates featured images of clusters of cells chosen from among the 7,000 images in the book.

“Just intermediate predominant maturation … garden variety intermediate cells, but they are so artfully placed!” quipped Dr. DeMay of the bookplate art. Among the art admirers attending was Longwen Chen, MD, whose efforts brought the Chinese brushwork-modified frontispieces that grace each of the volumes.

In addition to the artful aspects of the Art & Science of Cytopathology, purchasers commented on Dr. DeMay’s clear writing, humor, and thousands of mnemonic devices, summary lists, and helpful tables (with images)—and marveled at how he took the time to work through the collected findings of 25,000 references to create the most thoroughly researched cytopathology textbook of the new millennium.

Some praised Dr. DeMay’s insistence on bedrock cytomorphology even though the new edition introduces useful molecular techniques. Some owners of the first edition of the work pointed out that the Art & Science of Cytopathology had been their bible from school on; that there was no question that the second edition would be the new bible.

For about an hour, Dr. DeMay met with his “fans” before heading off to prep for his educational session. And what was the central message on each bookplate? “Happy diagnosing!” What else would you expect?